Walking into a Booby Trap

Not so long ago, this headline: ‘OMG! Deepika shows off her cleavage’ had the nation obsess over the said person’s décolletage, and debating her spirited decimation of the media house responsible for the red circle and the arrow that had been hastily placed on the digital image. 

Not so long ago, a certain wannabe, has-been, could-have-been, never-been, famously said, “Men talk to my boobs.” It is a different story that no one is interested in talking to her, let alone her boobs. 

And now, Sri Sri Sabyasachi Baba, the man who once dressed up his models in yards and yards of fabric with breathless layering, burying the female form under heavy books and thick rimmed glasses, celebrating the triumph of brains over boobs, is back to celebrating boobs again. 

And we are all very upset. 

Sabya has famously said, “I am obsessed with boobs.” The focus he says, is now on the bosom, and his women, who have of late been inhabiting palaces and forts like restive spirits guarding their secret stash of Sabya jewellery and lehengas, are uncovering, and how.

Women’s bodies, their rights, their personal spaces, their minds are inviolable spaces. And any sensible person would know better than make a stray, irresponsible remark that may end up antagonising the very same people he is meant to impress. 

But here’s the thing. Sri Sri Sabyasachi Baba never claimed to be the poster boy for progressive women. Remember, he put Vidya Balan in a ghunghat on the prestigious Cannes stage, to give her a ‘traditional’ look.  

There is perhaps nothing wrong with a designer talking about women’s boobs. Especially when the designer is building an even bigger empire by dressing up brides and their boobs. His recent pictures are big on sensuality. Men are ‘slumbering’ next to each other, their Sabya angrakhas unbuttoned to give a glimpse of manly chest hair. They look as they are letting off some serious post coital steam. The dusky, light-eyed women, with their décolletage on full display a lean forward and gather around paintings and pillars like inhabitants of a gorgeous harem.

Heck, they could even belong to a special episode of Game of Thrones set in India. A far cry from the days when his Victorian blouses did a splendid job of covering up every inch of bosom. Clearly, Sri Sri Sabya Baba has sex on his mind. The boobs have ensnared him as have the man buns. Meanwhile, he is still dressing up women in his Victorian armours. Rani Mukerji recently wore one to an event. He clearly has his fingers in many… (banish those naughty thoughts) pies. 

Question is, do we need to get so hot and bothered over the remarks of a man who does not really care for political correctness? Are we reading too much into his words? Should we simply let him do what he does best? Making rich women look richer and the rest of us, poorer simply by looking at the price tags of his designs?

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