Starlet Rakhi Sawant has been making a lot of noise in the Indian press. She seems to make a point of doing so whenever she has the slightest excuse, but this time around she is making a point that is greater than seems obvious. She was forcibly kissed at a party, making a photo-op a situation of personal discomfort and embarrassment.
Start at the beginning: Who or what is Rakhi Sawant? She burst out of nowhere with her out-there skin show and sensuous moves, making waves with the very steamy Mohabbat hai mirchi from Chura Liya Hai Tumne, stealing all the thunder from her co-stars with one wiggle of her shapely hips and her minimalistic fashion statement. Whatever she did before that seemed inconsequential. And whatever she did after that, the tag was hers for keeps: Item Girl. Even a fairly substantial role (such as it could be in a production starring family favourites) in Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na did nothing great for her image as an actress, especially because she was completely overshadowed by the lead stars in the film (Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, et al).
But Rakhi has made sure that she stayed in the spotlight with her act, albeit not her acting. She shed clothes, perfected the pout and honed those hip-slides to occupy centre stage in dance shows, item numbers and music videos that used sex as bon mot to sell mediocre tunes and lyrics edging towards the unmentionably vulgar. And she did hit it big with audiences in small towns all over the country - with an occasional B-Class venue thrown in - clamouring for more.
Rakhi has also learned the surefire route to a certain brand of success is via that adhesive substance called ‘controversy’. She got her share in many ways, recently for her costume – or lack of it – at a show she performed in a small town in rural Maharashtra, but had her colleagues supporting her. This time around, she finds herself in a rather spicier soup, shown with every salacious detail on national television and as still photos in every newspaper worth its page 3 rating.
It started out harmlessly enough. She was at a birthday party where the focus was Mika, a singer, brother of more famous music man, Daler Mehndi. With one eye firmly on the camera, Rakhi, dressed in a short, backless red dress, kissed the birthday boy on the cheek. If that had been the end of it, it would have been nothing more than the norm. But the man, presumably filled with cake, good cheer and general high spirits, grabbed the actress/dancer and kissed her on the mouth with what looked on film to be passionate fervour. To give the lady full credit, she seemed to be fighting him off. Adding insult to injury, compounding the felony, Mika did it twice over, Rakhi says; later, his bodyguards beat up her friend who came in as the avenging Sir Galahad. A lawsuit is in process, according to the media.
Perhaps the most discordant note in the whole drama is the reaction that this sordid little incident has elicited from various people in the glamour world. Many who would find Rakhi’s clothing perfectly de rigeur in their own wardrobes, feel that she invited trouble because of it, and because of her already raunchy reputation, that she asked for a response with her harmless peck on Mika’s cheek and overtly ‘available’ presence. Did she? Doesn’t any woman, whatever her appearance, have a right to say a loud and clear ‘No’? Can she not be outraged by a violation of personal space and standards of behaviour? Just because Rakhi Sawant has the confidence to dance semi-clad and give herself a ‘sex-kitten’ image, is she up for grabs when she doesn’t want to be?
I don’t think so. Do you?
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