Nadir

I've never really been much of a supporter for all these fairness cream advertisements which try to target the weakest spot of many Indian consumers, getting a fair skin. However till now I wasn't really bothered about the way they showed their products; the nonsensical relationship shown between being fair and being successful or being fair and suddenly being liked by everyone.

But the advt. which I saw today crossed all the borders of sensibility and forced me to actually write about it. This major cosmetic brand, which has actually become a synonym and a market leader for such products, has come out with a TVC wherein a girl is shown lamenting the fact that a guy doesn't like her because she's not fair (while surprisingly she's completely rosy and white!) and as soon as she starts using the cream she becomes totally white with some added makeup. And she's now in a relationship with the guy!!!

I mean guys come on!!! If some girls out there are actually falling for this kind of promotions, I beg of you please be a bit more sensible! If this was the case then all the fair people/ girls will get into relationships while the other "not so lucky ones" will be single, failure in their lives and a totally dejected lot.

And I'm sure you know that's not the truth! Life is not all about looks, they can only take you so far but after a point even that will not help you. Even in Bollywood, looks or skin show alone can't help make a career, you need to work towards results. Nothing comes for free.

And as far as these companies are concerned, I'm sure they'll continue making such idiotic advertisements as long as its getting them revenues. The responsibility lies with us.....whether we are okay with being taken for a ride or can we be a bit smart about it?

Are they invisible...

“I don’t do stunts. I only do my own fighting scenes which I don’t consider as stunts. My friend and stunt double does all the hard stuff.” This simple statement given by actor Liam Neeson while promoting his upcoming movie got me thinking. How is it that on one hand there is this person who is categorically and very humbly stating that someone else does those breathtaking action sequences, while on the other hand we have actors like Abhishek Bachchan who was caught lying when he claimed to have done the cliff-dive in Raavan?

And this is not the first time in Bollywood when someone has tried to take credit for someone else’s work. And why should I say in Bollywood, doesn’t it happen everywhere? Given a chance, people would surely try to get credit for a good job done by someone else! Some get caught, others don’t.

The recent trend, as per Indian film industry, is to get publicity in any and everyway possible, irrespective of whether it’s positive or negative. Relationships are made, fights are created and eyeballs are captured in the horde to get publicity. And if the movie works, the credit goes to the actors, the director or numerology!! But what about those who work behind the scenes to make it a success? What about those technicians, spot boys, assistant etc. who toil extra hard, irrespective of the time or weather, to ensure that the lead actors look great and everything goes smoothly. They get lost somewhere between the making of the movie and the awards show where only the influential ones are mentioned, except by a few actors.

Of course, they are the point of interaction with the audience, so the actors have to be highlighted but that doesn’t make it the outcome of an individuals’ effort only. It has always been and will always be a team effort and its time that the Indian film industry accepts it.

However not all filmmakers are like this. And this is one of the things I like about Rohit Shetty (director of movies like Golmaal series, Sunday, Zameen etc.). At the end of each of his work, he mentions ‘Rohit Shetty and Team.’ It’s an informal way of congratulating and saying thank you isn’t it?