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Call for white actresses to be banned from Bollywood
Hate campaign launched against Kylie Minogue, Alice Patten and others ready to peel off for Mumbai cameras
A radical Indian nationalist politician has called for white actresses from Britain and elsewhere to be banned from Bollywood so that more jobs can go to local dancers and actresses. Raj Thackeray, head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) - the Maharashtra Reformation Army - has launched a hate campaign to drive the white girls out of town, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
He is targeting not only high-profile names like Kylie Minogue (above, with Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar and Lara Dutta) the but also the wannabe actresses who show up in Mumbai and get bit-parts in Bollywood movies because they are more comfortable than some Indian girls about peeling off their clothes for the camera.
"The reason producers pick white girls is because a lot of them have better figures and are willing to expose them," said one film director, Jag Mundra.
"If you need a bikini shot, not many Indian girls are willing to turn up in a string bikini. But most white girls will not have an issue with that. Titillation has been an important part of Bollywood."
Minogue was in Mumbai last year to perform a typically raunchy - for her and for Bollywood - song-and-dance routine called 'Chiggy Wiggy' with Indian hunk Akshay Kumar in the film Blue.
Other westerners who have taken the call from Bollywood directors include the American Denise Richards who appeared in Kambakkht Ishq, also with Akshay Kumar, and Alice Patten, daughter of Lord (Chris) Patten, who starred in the hit film Rang De Basanti.
Thackeray launched his campaign after MNS activists - who enjoy the reputation of a virtual mafia in Mumbai - raided the set of the film Crooked, the latest vehicle for megastar Amitabh Bachchan. They demanded to see the work permits of more than 100 foreign actors and actresses and demanded instant fines from producers for anyone who could not produce their papers.
As a result, 11 activists have been arrested for extortion, to the fury of 42-year-old Thackeray, after producers complained to police.
It was a rare case of Bollywood standing up to the bully-boy tactics of the MNS. Whether producers can withstand the 'whites out' campaign will depend on the degree of support the MNS gets from local girls.
One dancer, Rakhi Sawant, was quoted by the Telegraph as saying: "Because of these foreigners, our Indian girls remain jobless. These white girls are like lollipops that only last for two days." ·
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Everyone should have the opportunity to star in a Bollywood Production
Its right because in one Indian serial Jhansi ki Rani there is a Britisher played by an American which is completely strange but funny to watch
Raj Thackeray is not a "nationalist" leader, nor is his party a nationalist party. They're just a bunch of thugs who have a lot in common with Oswald Mosley's blackshirts. Their main aim is to extort money. He and his thugs should be jailed and the Maharashtra government has faced a lot of flack in the Indian media for its lack of gumption in its dealings with him.
I don't blame him myself. It's a bit like Asian soul singers or black morris dancers or women engineers. They're OK but not quite the finished article. :) (Actually I'd like to see black Morris dancers. C'mon lets integrate if we're going to!!) But seriously folks....didn't Gordon Brown say British jobs for British people.....or is this guy b*llsh*tting too?
A radical Indian nationalist politician "... called for white actresses from Britain and elsewhere to be banned from Bollywood ..."
Erm, isn't that called Racism?
I'll bet he'd be screaming his head off if 'Western' Film-makers banned Indian actors and actresses!
And even a cursory search on the Internet will show hundreds of Indian women, even well-known Indian actresses, perfectly willing to pose in few clothes, or even none at all! So his second jibe, about western women being willing to expose their figures, is racist since it ignores the propensity of women of his own nationality to do the same!
He does, however, insult Indian women by his comment "The reason producers pick white girls is because a lot of them have better figures ..."
If the same thing was said here Raj Thackeray we would be up on charges of inciting racial hatred - so how come it is printed as serious news here? Not separatism/aprtheid or just outright racism that it is??
There is a long tradition of British actors appearing in Indian films. Felicity Kendal's first film part was in an Indian movie! And who would play all the 'evil' British soldiers and diplomats in historical dramas if Europeans are banned from Bollywood? This is nothing but grandstanding and racism from a fascist party. The great nation of India is diminished by this in the eyes of the world.