Daily Times

It was said somewhere that art is the true mirror of human emotions. It reflects all the emotions that are pent up inside a human heart and mind. Without artists, a society cannot function. Imagine getting up one day and discovering that there are no mirrors on the wall. Try going out of your house without witnessing your own reflection. That holds true, no matter what part of the world you belong to or where you intend to dwell.

Artists, poets, authors, actors, playwrights and, yes, journalists provide that aforementioned mirror to society. At times, it is reflective of how the world around us truly is and, at times, how it ought to be. These questions, poignant reminders and rejoinders are essential for a society to take some corrective actions. Cinematic art is one of the most engaging and thought provoking forms of art as it enacts those human emotions very convincingly on celluloid. Cinema transports the human mind to certain levels of emotion in a dark theatre, which is otherwise impossible. As it is often said, it is a business of dreams. For three hours or less, one is transported to an imaginary world where there are no pressures, deadlines, bills or worries. It is a surreal adventure, an almost temporary escape from reality.

The neighbours next door are, undoubtedly, at their best when it comes to show business. Bollywood reigns supreme on its own turf and now, perhaps, all around the world. To reject their prowess in this particular form of art is nothing short of absolute absurdity. The industry rightly boasts about its ability to produce the most number of movies around the globe. To back up its claim, it has a remarkable history of classics, which are unforgettable and, by any stretch of the imagination, nothing short of excellence in cinema. However, as they say, with such quantity, quality gets to suffer one way or the other. Bollywood is trying very hard to give its mother, Hollywood, a run for its money. Ah yes, the latter churns out a heap of cinematic trash in abundance every year as well.

It was once said that dance is an art, a reflection of human emotions and an almost poetic expression of the human body. The industry next door has captured those poetic expressions in many of its memorable classics. The term classic is not adequate to express the sheer splendour and beauty of those unforgettable numbers.

However, in today’s day and age, that poetic expression has taken a back seat and a new phenomenon has sprung up. All in the guise of art and ‘commercial cinema’, there are sleazy dances rightly or wrongly dubbed as ‘item numbers’. The lyrics are very often cheap, raunchy and sometimes downright vulgar. The suggestive and sexual context is often repeated to reiterate that it is the demand of the public. The irony is that many top rated actresses gyrate to such pathetic tunes, for the ‘attention’ factor. The idea is that often a movie that otherwise lacks any meaningful script, often becomes a runaway hit on the crutches of such so-called item numbers. The comeback or justification has been that, after all, desire is part of human needs and emotions too. Fair enough, in that case, defecation is part of daily human needs too, and you do not get to see that on the giant screen. Reason being, something that is wasteful and filthy requires some serious privacy.

The concept that the market place demands a woman to expose her flesh and offer her body as a toy somehow is an absolute insult to all females. The comeback, which is that most men want this for their sadistic pleasure begs a very simple question: what good is education and enlightenment when we are still stuck in jahiliya (primitiveness and ignorance)? Why are the ladies who sell their flesh chastised and the ones suggesting to offer their flesh on screen glamorised? You do not need to be in a dark theatre to figure this one out.

Screen damsels are hell bent upon exposing their skin as it is supposedly an integral element of the movie. The excuse that is often provided is that the role requires the actress to do so. This often begs the question: where in the world do you see, on any street or public place in real life, such a lady grooving and singing, and a group of sick males lustfully joining her in the chorus?

To sum up, sickness is in our minds where we concoct such baseless stories to minimise the grace and beauty of a female in the name of so-called entertainment. Of course, the ultimate choice resides with the moviegoer who can save his or her valuable time and money by avoiding such senseless and pathetic displays. To the reigning queens of the silver screen, losing your clothes after years of higher education and enlightenment, at least in this scribe’s opinion, is not any form of art at all.

The writer is a Pakistani-American mortgage banker. He blogs at http://dasghar.blogspot.com and can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar