Soft Porn at Indiatimes

Want to read the most ridiculous article on Sexual Violence*? This one will disgust you.

If you don't want to read the story, or are just plain lazy to click above, read the introduction:

Rape has been trivialized in Hindi films to such a degree that instead of getting sympathy from the audience it attracts scorn and indifference. Rape scenes were introduced in films as an excuse to bring a twist to the story and give the hero a cause to fight for, or to eliminate a character from the plot (the victim almost always committed suicide). It was also a weapon to establish the vile character of the villain.

Say what? Seems like the writer has done a PhD on rape scenes in Bollywood. And umm... where is this leading us?

The diligent writer continues:

... the filmmakers started taking advantage and turning rape into titillation. The scenes were shot to entertain the predominantly male audience. Gruesome close-ups and lewd remarks added to the thrill of the frontbenchers.

I have a vague suspicion here that the writer is trying to either depict him/herself as a feminist or sympathise with women by making such statements.

The story goes on to give a detailed list of 20-odd most brutal rape scenes in Bollywood. Here's a sampler:

Bhrashtachar
This film has one of the most explicit rape scenes ever. Anupam Kher plays the rapist. He watches leeringly a drugged Shilpa Shirodkar and the camera focuses on her lying in bed that slowly rotates. She is shown in a disheveled state with camera zooming in on her assets. She comes out of the stupor and tries to run but he chases her around. Laughing and leering, he carries her back to the bed and then rapes her.

Adjacent to the above paragraph is an almost-titillating picture of Shilpa Shirodkar, low neckline et al.

Some questions I'd like to ask:

• Isn't Indiatimes supposed to be a family website?


• So someone high up the Indiatimes ladder decides this article must be put up. But why label it Sexual Violence?


• I thought Indiatimes, or rather, the ToI group supposedly had their fingers on the pulse of the readers (with their high circulation figures etc.). After reading this, I'm sure they don't.


• Isn't the text describing the rape scenes graphic enough to qualify as soft porn?


• What were the writer and editor thinking? And what was the writer doing while while watching those rape scenes?


• So was this story meant to inform or titillate?

And here's how the article ends:

The Hindi film rape was a mandatory scene at one point and there are many more scenes that we can add to our list. If you think you know of a brutal rape scene that we have missed out, go ahead and write to us.

Whatchya thinking? Go ahead, write to them. Not that it matters to them.

BTW, according to rumours, this story on "Sexual Violence" has Omar Qureshi's
blessings. He's one of the senior people in ToI handling movies.

*- Why did I not just refer to the story as Bollywood's Most Brutal Rapes? That's because the Indiatimes homepage links to the story as Sexual Violence. Don't believe me? Pay Indiatimes.com a visit. If you can't see it, let me know. I have screenshots to prove it.