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Brangelina have finally left our shores. And, with them their two children adopted from different corners of the globe. They’ve gone, but the images of Brad Pitt, the uber-sexy man with the golden haunches, and partner Anjolina Jolie, of the famed bee-stung lips and a sultry sensuality, lugging their differently-hued children everywhere, linger on.
Strolling past the Gateway of India, climbing out of a boat in front of it, in arrival and departure lounges —in all these paparazzi shots the couple appear to be wearing their children like badges of virtue.

Like, well, a fashion accessory. These photographic images made me think of Madonna and her baby from Malawi. Other celebrities have also expressed the desire to adopt babies from the third and even fourth worlds. The idea isn’t new with entertainers. Long before, in the 50s, the legendary Folies Bergere star Josephine Baker adopted twelve boys and girls and brought them up in her magnificent Chateau of Les Milandes in the South West of France.

The children were known as her “Rainbow Tribe”. Most of them were orphans and belonged to different ethnic and religious groups. But then Baker was black and American. Having suffered from racial prejudice in the States she was making a point about the possibility of people from diverse races living together in harmony.

Perhaps, I am being cynical. Baker’s successors may also in all good faith be trying to make a similar point in our increasingly fractured world. But I can’t help the sneaking feeling that these children give their new parents much more than just an extended family and a chance to indulge their parental instincts.

These acts also bestow attachable haloes. Not only do they bathe the celebrities in a special light, a “do-gooder” image can also boost ratings at the box-office or sell more albums. To put it bluntly, it gives you more mileage and keeps you in the limelight longer, often past your day in the sun. Come to think of it, Mia Farrow is remembered more for her large brood of children — especially her Korean daughter married to Woody Allen — than she is for her screen performances. Moreover, after a point, all that money and fame can get boring: the world is getting crowded with rich and famous people.

It’s all about borrowing auras, and we are no strangers to this. Creating public personas has long been a prerogative of Indian politicians. Remember sartorial nods to the Mahatma with khadi and to our first Prime Minister with the Nehru cap and jacket that bears his name? These credited them with Gandhian ideals and Nehruvian socialism.
The stars of our celluloid firmament do it differently. We don’t yet have actors adopting and displaying children from Andaman Islands or Bastar, forget Malawi. That may happen eventually. Our actors and, increasingly, our socialites and habitués of Page 3 find other ways to acquire those haloes. Shining brightest, long past her days as a leading lady on the silver screen, is talented actress-activist and former Rajya Sabha MP, Shabana Azmi.

From going on a hunger strike to prevent the forceful eviction of slum dwellers in Mumbai to taking part in marches and much else, she’s always managed to remain centrestage. And rarely out of print. Nafisa Ali, who’s flirted with acting is now the poster girl for fighting AIDS and other scourges of the day, as well as Chairperson of the Children’s Film Society. Social activism certainly burnishes this halo, and that light might one day lead her all the way to Parliament.

These days the haloes are shining brightest amongst the growing tribe of chatterati. Socialites, both male and female, who were previously content with being praised for their looks, clothes, homes, wealth, parties or lifestyles now want to be known for other assets. Some want to be considered intellectual: they flock to book launches — especially at the British Council — and pose tutored questions. Never mind if their reading is confined to book reviews.

Others want to be thought of as “cultured”; they flock to openings of art exhibitions and appear to have convulsive epiphanies in front of a Tyeb Mehta or a Shibu Natesan canvas. Many want to be known for their bleeding hearts: they take up the most fashionable cause of the day — from AIDS, animal rights to child labour. Never mind if the Chotu they employ at home is underage. All’s well as long as the halo remains attached.

Email: jain_madhu@hotmail.com