Shammi Kapoor could very easily vouch for Sharmila Tagore’s beauty when he sang ‘Yeh chand sa roshan chehra, zulfon ka rang sunehra, yeh jheel se neeli ankhein…..’ A Romeo of today just cannot take that risk because the woman of his dreams is now a factory-manufactured product.
I remember seeing an English movie where the hero is passionately wooing the heroine. As he caresses her and runs his hands through her hair, her ‘hair add ons’ come off. Gathering courage, he tenderly traces his fingers from her forehead to her eyes, when her false eyelashes fall into his hands. But the hero doesn’t lose hope and as he runs his hands longingly over her curves, her ‘falsies’ get dislocated. We all laughed our heads off, but the hero of course had ice cold water thrown over his desires!
Guys, you just don’t understand a woman’s desire to be perfect! If she’s perfect, she’s still not happy. A beautiful 19-year-old medical student and a part time model, Catherine Cando, died while undergoing liposuction – a prize she got for winning her local beauty competition, Queen of Duran, Ecuador. It’s a growing fad, where the young, the bold and the beautiful are throwing their natural splendour of youth to being made plastic perfect!
Looking good is the new mantra. For the nubile teenager, it’s her survival at stake. This is the time when you’re being introduced to the world, so you can’t take a chance. If you can afford it, then go in for all the cosmetic changes. If you can’t then just buy a smart phone that edits your pictures well. If you don’t have a face that could ‘launch a thousand ships and burn the topless towers of Ilium’ at least you need the power to launch one single paper boat.
The media, television, cinema sells what looks good. Not everyone can be like Bharati, who got lucky even though overweight. No channel is interested if you’re tipping the scales even if you’re exceptionally talented. So being picture perfect is a national game.
Not just for the young. Even more so for the people in their 40s and 50s climbing uphill. Botox, liposuction, breast enlargement, and double chin removal- we do everything to prove God wrong. And when we know it’s a losing battle, we dig up all those articles on how to feel comfortable in your skin and turn our noses down on the likes of Malaika Arora Khan saying disdainfully, ‘She doesn’t look natural yaar….’ while our hearts are simmering with discontent.
An old saying goes, “Chand main bhi daag hai”. So let’s cherish our bodies, our under the eye dark circles, the acne skin, the short height, the flat chest, the plump arms, the dark skin, and whatever else that qualifies to be a beauty blemish. Let’s work on being happy, being fit, being healthy and bringing a twinkle in the eye and a million watt smile on the face. I think we ought to be thankful what we have when we think of the thousands of girls who bear the brunt of acid attacks and for whom, looking like a human is a painful ordeal. Let’s be thankful girls!!
On a lighter note we all know that most of our actresses in India and abroad get their looks because of the cosmetic surgeries done on them. “Main ayeen hoon UP Bihaar lootney, Plastic ki body se karaar lootney” lyrics seems a little more realistic considering the trend of going under the knife. The day is not far off when guys will file an application in the RTI office asking- “Kindly let me know if a heroine has undergone any denting or a painting job on her face before I fall in love with her smile”.
