NL Hafta

On Awful and Awesome this week, Abhinandan and Rajyasree are joined by our very own Deepanjana Pal (DJ). This time, she's back as a guest to talk about her first novel Hush a Bye Baby, a thriller about a gynaecologist, Dr Nandita Rai, who is accused of conducting sex-selective abortions. Sekhri and Sen question DJ about her choice of genre. In response to which, Pal says, “So, at a very basic level, I think it’s fair to say that Hush a Bye Baby is kind of in the middle of many genres. It is a thriller, I hope. But it is also a social drama like you’re describing. It does have a lot to do with the society in which all of this is taking place. It isn’t a conventional murder mystery which is what most thrillers tend to be. There are no dead bodies in this. In many ways, it’s a little bit of a cross-genre kind of a thing.” After having discussed the novel extensively, and DJ’s view on abortions and a woman’s autonomy over her own body, Sekhri and Sen move on to discuss the bizarre, shocking, and extremely disappointing comments made by Bollywood celebrities on rapes in India. The greatest superstar of the country, Amitabh Bachchan, also the brand ambassador of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’, when asked to comment on the Kathua rape case, said: “‘Don’t bring up this issue, it is terrible to even talk about it.” While it is a disgusting incident, that doesn’t mean you don’t comment on it. As Sekhri commented: “He is a superstar and we respect him but he is like every other uncle.” Next in line is Saroj Khan, who had something to say about the existence of the casting couch in the industry: “Tum film industry ke peeche kyu pade ho. Woh kamse kam roti toh dedeti hai. Rape karke chorh toh nai deti”. To Sen, the justification that she is making is hardly some salvation. While Bachchan’s and Saroj Khan’s old age can be held up as an excuse for making such statements, what reason does Ranbir Kapoor have? Speaking about the casting couch, the Rockstar actor said: "I don’t know if it exists. I have never been expected to do it” and then laughed! Sen had a very obvious remark to make to that, “For everyone who comes from a level of privilege in their sphere of life, to say I’ve never seen this deprivation is ridiculous.” Moving on, the duo discusses the teaser of Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Sanju, produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Rajkumar Hirani. Both are highly impressed by the actor’s uncanny resemblance to Sanjay Dutt, but the teaser fails to make a mark on them. According to Sen, “I didn’t think much of the teaser. I thought it was a bit farcical. Like they had just slapped it together. And for some reason, I got the feeling that it was making a hero out of Sanjay Dutt’s stupidities. Because I do think he’s a silly man. He came from the lap of privilege and went wayward. That has been made into a virtue.” Sekhri, however, is less harsh in his opinion on the teaser, “What they’ve attempted is very clever. His life is more tragic than comic. But rather than make the trailer tragic, they attempted to make it almost farcical. I don’t think it works. But it was a clever thing to have tried.” Next, the new Durex Kohinoor Meetha Pan condom ad is reviewed. For Sekhri, the ad is "wrong in all sorts of ways". He also adds, “Ever since Pooja Bedi’s Kamasutra ad, nobody has come up with a classy condom ad. All condom ads have been sleazy.” Talking of advertisements, the next topic of discussion is a print ad commissioned by the ministry of health, to promote healthy eating and being slim. But of course, it’s only directed at women. No surprises there. Sekhri brings out the fallacies that this ad, which shows two women of different sizes, displays. Lastly, Sen talks about an Amazon original that she watched, written and acted in by Sumukhi Suresh, called ‘Pushpavalli’.