Condoms and sex: Give Ranveer Singh his due(rex)
When was the last time a commercially well-to-do Bollywood actor spoke at length about sex? You don't remember? Well, neither do I. Unless you include promotional events for films which are tagged "A", and even in that case, most actors would talk about everything from how to do a sex scene in Bollywood films to AIDS, but carefully dodge that devilish three-lettered S-word.
So, when some months back Ranveer Singh went ahead and began endorsing a brand of condoms, a lot of sniggers and smirks spilled forth from the prudes. A mainstream actor doing a furious kissing scene in a commercial film is something, and talking about condoms and sex this openly is something else all together. Sure, we have seen Sunny Leone strutting around kissing strawberries in that Mankind ad, but then, she's Sunny Leone. A former porn star. And being part of a condom ad must have been the most natural thing to do for a former porn star, or so ran the commentary in the logical Indian's mind.
When Ranveer Singh began talking openly about sex and the other sexual, under-taboo stuff, one thought it was a wave that accompanied his Durex campaign; and like all other waves, would pass over. Hell, no. Imagine the shock the common Indian prude had to face when Singh discussed his sex life - in public - with the media. And not as part of his condom endorsement. He laid bare the first time he lost his cherry; went on to talk about how he could not do without sex; and how his classmates' parents considered him the "keeda" who would spoil their kids, back during his school days. And the horrifying confessions didn't end there. He chose to actually address the youth and talk about sex in a way most other B-town inhabitants would have considered surprising, if not downright shocking.
On World Aids Day, the actor appeared on numerous TV and computer screens, asking people to talk about sex. Adding that sentence, "No glove, no love," to his speech of sorts. He went around giving interviews about how sex is a beautiful thing and why youngsters should not shy away from talking about it. He encouraged people to break the taboos and have lots of sex - with a condom. It sure is a promotional stint when such talks come wrapped in a rubber sheath campaign. But then, how many of our contemporary actors have done even that?
Only last week, I was talking to someone who was describing her experience of post marital sex with her PhD holding husband. This educated way-above-average, in his 30s husband of hers refused to use a condom whenever they had sex. Bringing up the topic meant receiving jibes from the guy; acid-coated utterly idiotic sentences like, "I'm sure you're having an affair and hence the insistence on using a condom". After a point of time, she gave up trying to drill reason into the overeducated head of this doofus. She began using diaphragms, without telling him. He found out and taunted her for a while after that, but she made him accept the arrangement. Apparently, sometime during their initial arguments about using a condom, this Bollywood-worshipper husband of hers had also said (in jest, I'm hoping) that the day his favourite stars endorsed the act of using a condom, he'd also start using one.
This is just one instance where people in India look up to their stars so much that even their sexual lives are governed by them. No, that doesn't just include shagging off to photos of actresses that a lot of people do, but otherwise, too. So, when someone who is still working his way to achieving a solid footing in Bollywood talks so openly about these unmentionable things, he deserves a pat on the back. And here's the disclaimer. I personally don't like Ranveer. Be it his brash roles on screen or his quintessential Dilli-da-laundapan, there's something about him that puts me off. But the guy needs to be given his due. He is doing his bit to change the societal perception about sex, talking about sex, and condoms. That alone, more than his roles, too, maybe, makes him worthy of respect. If he succeeds in making a condom a necessity in the urban Indian youngster's sex life; if they too don't step out of their homes without carrying a condom in their wallets like him, Singh's "Rex Talk" might just become the condom revolution that the country so needs. With or without that nauseating red rose in between their jaws, a la Ranveer.