‘Rajneethi’ evoked a lot of political unrest within congress. Be it the female lead's (or her wardrobe) resemblance to the congress supremo or the plot itself. Censor board prescribed certain cuts on a love making scene that involves a politician. According to the director half of the scenes were chopped and he remarked on NDTV... ‘in India politicians are allowed only 50% of sex’.
Indian politicians are viewed in black or white. The black has only shades of corruption and inefficiency (sex not included). The media and public wish to believe that the largest democracy is run by sterile or sexually loyal representatives – any allegations of sexual misconduct is swiftly hushed. Clinton loves this collective consciousness and badly missed it in his country.
Kamala Das’s embrace of Islam was widely covered in the media. Most of them (media and the literary circle) knew the reasons for her conversion even though she did feign an attempt to explain that she felt protection in a ‘purdha’, liked the discipline of the religion and wanted a Master to guide her. For someone who had romanticised her love for Lord Krishna through numerous writings and a literary icon who embodifies Hindu cultural symbols, her sudden metamorphosis to a burqa clad ‘Suraiya’ was like the Pope swapping his costume with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
The truth was that she once again found love in her late years in a politician who was 20 years younger to her. She believed in total surrender in love (as true to her writings) and declared to the whole world her plans to convert. The politician who was madly in love with her chickened out in the last minute. He was worried about his career; may be his worry had more to do with the public perception of him making love to a 60 plus year old literary icon.
He withdrew and she never revealed his identity. She wrote about their love …at times describing it as a love that was secretly unveiled in moonlight. A few poems later she left the world.
4 comments:
it was more interesting to read about Kamala Das...may be because i have read a bit of her work long back..somewhere i lost conncetion between the beginning and the end!
i remember u telling me about having learnt her poem in college. the common thread was about how sex is so hushed up in indian politics. later i felt may be i should have blogged the Kamala Suraiya story on its own...
This is really confusing Biju...don't know what to comment...whether on Rajneeti/50% sex for politicians or on one and only and our own Kamalakutty :-). If you were trying to showcase the politicians tendency to hide their sexual acts...why you giving an example of Madavikutty, when we have live examples of Su Menon and Sashi Taroor!
santhosh...i brought in the madhavikutty story because to me her realtioship with a politician and the decision hence to convert was the stunning twist in her tryst with 'Suraiya'.
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