#dnaEdit: Well done Deepika

She’s not an ‘activist’ or an actor from ‘parallel’ cinema you could dismiss to the sidelines. When an outraged Deepika Padukone, arguably Bollywood’s most successful woman actor, speaks out against a degrading photograph of herself, the debate becomes as mainstream as she is — pushing long-disturbing questions on the objectification of women by a rapacious media onto the centre stage and compelling a stand from some who would never take one.

In hitting out at an English daily for carrying an online picture taken from a high camera angle with the caption, “OMG: Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show”, the actress not just took on a powerful media house but also set a standard for her peers to follow. When the line is crossed, don’t be afraid to shout it out.

It was gratuitous voyeurism — the photograph according to some reports was an old one and used without any context at all — aimed at nothing but catching more eyeballs of the sleazy kind. And Padukone had clearly decided enough was enough. “Supposedly India’s ‘LEADING’ newspaper and this is ‘NEWS’!!??”, she tweeted. And then minutes later, followed it up with this,”YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage. You got a problem!!??” A third tweet asked the newspaper to not talk about empowerment of women when it did not know how to respect them. 

Unfortunately, it did not end there. The newspaper, unrepentant and with the star-struck, salacious reader in mind, struck back with a cheeky, ““It’s a compliment! You look so great that we want to make sure everyone knew! :).”

The offence was clearly intended and taken. Though the tweet and the post were quickly taken off, it left behind a moral debate on an industry that has long commodified women and on a media that has fed off the personal lives of celebrities, particularly women, to the extent of dehumanising them and leaving them as cardboard cut-outs. It has been an unhealthy symbiotic relationship and it has needed a Deepika Padukone to again focus on it.
As far as both, Bollywood and the media, both of which feed off celebrities, are concerned, this is time to turn that inward eye. Popular entertainment, particularly mainstream cinema, can have a salutary effect on society and teach the lessons of empowerment and equality. Entertainment, or for that matter advertising and sections of ‘tabloid’ media, needn’t be about sexualising women’s bodies.

The fact that Padukone not just objected but went into virtual campaign mode saw much of Bollywood, including Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar, Aamir Khan and Priyanka Chopra, back her. But this is the time for reflection, not reaction. From an industry that feels it necessary to have an ‘item girl’ to give their film the titillating edge and from a media that joins in ever so willingly — sometimes using a star and sometimes someone like Shweta Prasad, the young actress caught in a prostitution racket who grabbed headlines rather than her ‘violators’ — to dig up the dirt.

There is another lesson here. This is a brave new world. One where social media is the great equaliser. Which means that a Deepika Padukone, with 7.25 million followers of Twitter, can be at par with a powerful national media house.

Yes, she is as an integral part of the system that churns out films that objectify women. And no, she is not a flag bearer speaking for all. But when she feels violated and draws the line, it is time to stop.