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Bollywood, #StopStalkingNow

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Kaveree Bamzai
Kaveree BamzaiJan 08, 2017 | 14:37

Bollywood, #StopStalkingNow

Okay. Points to Akshay Kumar for speaking out against the men on the rampage in Bangalore, and he can always say he’s one of the few men who played the victim of a stalker - even if it was a copy of the Hollywood film Disclosure. But could he also do another straight-from-the-heart for his colleagues in the industry who routinely play stalkers, setting terrible examples which result in men being emboldened when they’re in a crowd, thinking women are public property. To be defaced. And disgraced.

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Just think. Any young girl looking for a role model onscreen can find enough instances of women striking out on their own - living life on their own terms, in this year alone, whether it is Pink, Dear Zindagi or Kahaani 2. What do the boys get?

Ranbir Kapoor playing a rich slacker/stalker who doesn’t understand that no means no in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Ajay Devgn forcing his foreign girlfriend to have a child before she leaves him, only to be careless enough to lose the child once it is born in Shivaay.

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It’s tough growing up a boy in India. We know. There are mothers who don’t know how to teach their sons respect for women. There are schools that never address anything that is outside their syllabus. There are politicians and people in public life who routinely disrespect a woman’s right to dress, speak, behave the way she likes.

And of course, there are gilded heroes on screen who tell them it’s all right to woo a woman even if she doesn’t want it, especially if she doesn’t want to. No one said it as well as Dhanush’s friend in Aanand A Rai’s Raanjhanaa: UP main ladkiyan do tarike se patai jaati hain. Ek to mehnat se, subah se sham tak peecha karo, ghar ke bahar school ke bahar, bazaar main, sadkon pai - you get the picture. Or by starving yourself, lose weight, ladki ko itna thaka do ki woh thak kar bole de. Charming. A Guide to Stalking 101 if ever there was one.

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But there are other ways to win your girl if you follow the advice of Bollywood’s leading men:

#1. Forget consent

Tu haan kar ya na kar, to hai meri Kiran. Yes, that’s Shah Rukh Khan forever teaching boys in love what to do with the woman they love - call her incessantly, carve her name on your body, scream in anger when she rejects you for someone else as in Darr.

#2. Ask for two minutes of her time so she can listen to your whining about loving her

And then when she says no, swing iron rods and weep copious tears at the same time, while also sporting a ridiculous hairstyle. Yes, that’s you Salman Khan in Tere Naam.

#3. Advise all your friends to call her bhabhi

As in rickshaw walla don’t take money from her, she is your soon to be bhabhi. As in Raanjhanaa.

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#4. Buy whatever she sells, break it, and then buy more of it

As in Chulbul Pandey’s lesson from Dabangg. Causing Sonakshi Sinha to utter the most emblematic line for all stalked women: thappad se darr nahin lagta sahib, pyaar se lagta hai.

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#5. Every time she says no, get turned on

As in Shah Rukh Khan in Anjaam. Every time Madhuri Dixit snubbed him, his resolve to show her the light deepened.

#6. When they run, chase them

Like Shahid Kapoor in R...Rajkumar.

Sonakshi Sinha, by now an expert in being harassed, is pinched, pulled, pummelled, all in the name of love. She ends up enjoying it.

#7. When they refuse, tattoo them

Yes, Bahubali, I’m looking at you. Branding cattle we had heard of. Branding women while they sleep? That’s a new one.

God help us. Is it any wonder that boys grow up to feel entitled when Bollywood gives them so many innovative ways to stalk? So can we start a movement asking for our male stars to stop glorifying stalking?

#StopStalkingNow. Make it trend in the real world and in the virtual universe. Shame the stars into making smarter choices. Allow them to finally catch up with the women.   

Last updated: April 05, 2018 | 13:43
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