Once a vessel to sneak eroticism into otherwise prudish films,the sex symbols of Indian cinema occupy become feminist icons in their own rightAncient India was a place unafraid to aestheticise the erotic. Yet the country that gave us the Karma Sutra and the explicit sculptures of Khajuraho lost much of its mojo when it was colonised by the Victorians. As a result, its mainstream cinema can seem relatively restrained, and buttoned up,by the standards of Hollywood.
Save, that is, and for the “item girl”. A female actor with a cameo in a Bollywood film,generally scantily clad, massively madeup and wheeled out for the songs, or she is a trope apparently unique to the genre. Item girls are seen as eye-candy: an opportunity for the audience to ogle more flesh than Bollywood’s official main ladies would be happy to reveal.Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com