Radhika Apte’s leaked nude images from the movie “Clean Shaven” had caused quite a stir when they were released. The stills had been taken from a clip from the movie, and the controversy had made the entirety of the Indian fraternity lose their minds, but most importantly, had amounted to terrifying mental concurrence.
“Clean Shaven,” directed by Anurag Kashyap, was a part of a cinematic anthology called “Madly”, wherein the shorts depicted the many cataclysms of love from around the world. The movie, in itself, was a bold attempt by the Indian film fraternity to elucidate their vestige concerning the proclamations of love.
Radhika Apte’s snippet, upon release, had been termed as “vulgar” and “disturbing”, yet, upon much discourse, it all lends a look into the way our society thinks.
It is no surprise that Indian society thrives on anything and everything that seeks to drag a person down for the slightest of reasons. It still eludes the progressive Indian society as to how a person’s body is their property and no one else’s, yet we persist. We condemn the good and we condone the bad.
Radhika’s Interview And Her Fight Against The Constance Of Mental Harassment
Radhika, earlier this week, had been interviewed by the Grazia magazine, wherein she came and told her story of her strife against the mental harassment that she had to endure.
The movie ‘Clean Shaven’ had been rumored to contain a nude clip of Apte. However, in the interview, she refuted the claim and stated that it wasn’t her.
An excerpt from the interview reveals the amount of harassment she had to endure as she stated;
“When a nude clip of mine leaked, while I was filming Clean Shaven, I was trolled badly, and it did affect me. I couldn’t step out of the house for four days, not because of what the media was saying but because my driver, watchman, and my stylist’s driver recognized me from the images.”
This instance of being recognized for a clip that she wasn’t even a part of brought about an enormous amount of humiliation for the actress and it didn’t stop at that. The humiliation barred her from venturing out of her house, and additionally, she was then hounded by the toxicity of Indian social media.
However, after this revelation, she understood that it was time for her to extend her technical prowess and versatility as an actress.
Also Read: Seven Feminist Indian Movies You Must Watch ASAP
Thus, she chose to star in the Leena Yadav directed ‘Parched’ where she played the role of a sex worker, and it featured her in another nude scene. Her turn as a sex worker was lauded by critics and audiences alike and her boldness had certainly paid off.
Apte, upon being asked about why she chose to strip for the movie, stated, “When I stripped for Parched, I realized: There’s nothing left for me to hide.”
However, it is still strange how Bollywood still tries to depict a world of their own formulated adornment that likes to keep women embellished under a garb of clothing while sexualizing them in the same breath.
Apte’s revelations weren’t the first time that our Indian society’s wrath came into play. Time has borne witness to a myriad of such instances.
Bollywood’s Controversial Scenes And The Indian Audience’s Wrath
Bollywood is no stranger to moral policing and it has always stood as gospel truth as it has tried to spoonfeed the audiences with its hamfisted views on morality while sexualizing the same.
The image of a certain scene from Ram Teri Ganga Maili comes to mind when writing about this instance of the Indian society creating a raucous about something as normal as being shirtless.
This entire topic may make most readers cringe and that is probably the tone that I am reaching for. However, these are things that need to be spoken about.
The scene of Mandakini standing under the waterfall was, in retrospect, used as a sexual tool by the filmmaker. However, it also strove to normalize female nudity in the same breath as male nudity.
The masculine form of shirtlessness is sexualized by Bollywood. As things stand, it is more often than not, that the actor turns into a prophetic version of a human being.
They become an object the normal Indian man strives to become while the female form of nudity is further turned into something only to be ogled at, reducing them to just another object.
Prior to Boom, a certain Mira Nair chose to direct a movie based on the ancient Hindu acts of sex and the discovery of sexuality named Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. The flak received by one of the lead actresses owing to the depiction of sex made her never want to visit India.
Numerous Indian fringe groups had dubbed the movie as an anti-Hindu and anti-Indian movie and protested the release of the movie in India. I hope the irony did not get lost on them but the Indian society is an amalgamation of ironies at the end of the day.
However, with movies like Parched and web series like Sacred Games, one can expect the Indian society to progress mentally and be more accepting of such creativity. Clothes are but a garb that one dons to protect themselves from the weather, to be very honest, and there lies nothing to be ogled at in nudity.
If the country chooses to not progress, then the day isn’t far when we will be criticizing a baby for not being modestly dressed.
Image Sources: Google Images
Sources: Grazia, Hindustan Times, The Quint, Variety
Connect with the blogger: @kushan257
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