Susan Boyle and the Bollywood Fantasy
I did not expect her to win. The underdog has to remain one for a bit longer. That is what makes it charming and believable. We are in the business of 'make-believe', right?
Let me draw your attention to a similar Bollywood story. The angelic voice, a burnt face. We are talking about the protagonist in Raj Kapoor's Satyam Shivam Sundaram. It is supposed to mean "Truth is God and God is beautiful".
This is to further convey that beauty is not skin deep. However, the director chose an actress who was glamorous and sexy and willing to bare a lot of skin, but could not act.
As this poster clearly shows, it is her voluptuousness that is of value; you do not notice any blemish.
This completely negates the Boyle law that thrives on several blemishes. Zeenat Aman in the film pouts into the edge of her saree, pulls it with her lips to hide the scars. The hero falls in love with her, not merely her voice, but her form. Her attempts at revealing the truth do not fructify in the classic genre of taking the story forward.
When he finds out, he is aghast. He hates her. Then begins the pretence. The one with the voice and the one without.
The denouement is, of course, predictable. About truth and god and beauty. It is like the beatific expression of the woman who climaxes after long sessions of titillation. In several sequences in the film she is shown watering the Shiva Linga, the holy phallic symbol. There is ecstasy in her every move. It is almost a sexual act because most times she is drenched.
Susan Boyle uses her body and persona is a similar fashion. She represents the regular type, the Plain Jane in a fairytale. The woman who talks about her non-existent love life is as much open about it as one who flaunts it. It is drawing attention to possibilities.
Both are objects of desire in their own peculiar ways and spur male fantasies to save them from a life of tedium. And both are smart enough to work on those fantasies to embellish their own.
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Title song is here
I have already written about Susan Boyle and the comparison with the flogging video of the girl from Swat.
She writes with anguish and pessimism, a journey into hearts of darkness with no light at the end of that distorted prism, mainly because as she astutely observes, “every few years Pakistan writes a new fiction” to keep the embers alive. ”
—India Today
About Farzana
To be categorised is near-death. It would be nice to say that one is a literary vagabond, but it just does not convey fully the sense of rootlessness and ruthlessness one strives for constantly.
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Farzana’s Favorite Books
Every writer, besides the ones I have listed, who has had something to convey that leaves me with the taste of bitter chocolate...that I like.
Susan Boyle had no sooner
Susan Boyle had no sooner divulged that she'd never been kissed when one of the judges, Piers Morgan, offered to buss her. So you are onto something here, Farzana.
The case of Susan
Ellen, the case of Susan is getting more complicated. She was admitted to a clinic for depression. I wish we ceased to be so exploitative.
~F