RAJNIKANT, SHAHRUKH KHAN AND UNILEVER
When Silva Leguada became Global brand Director for ‘Dove’ in 2001 she looked for a new approach. She was told what conventional wisdom held as sacrosanct ‘There was no way you can sell beauty without aspirations’.
But she could sell beauty with a creative and contrarian approach—by inspiring women to believe in their beauty AS THEY WERE. Silva challenged the assumptions of her company Unilever. The result—a Dove campaign for real beauty. It debunked traditional stereotypes by celebrating real beauty of women all ages ,sizes, shapes and colors as the new standard of beauty. The ‘Real beauty’ website explained how different people in different cultures view beauty. Silva released an series of advertisements that showed how the usual beauty ads distort our concepts of beauty . Dove’s ad in contrast stressed on self esteem no matter how you looked !
Now lets turn to matters closer home. In the wake of the tremendous publicity received by the Rajnikant starrer film ‘Shivaji’ many of my friends and some film critics asked these questions –what makes Rajni so popular? He can’t act beyond a few gimmicks like flicking a cigarette into his mouth. He is not handsome, He is DARK SKINNED. Surely, they said ,something is wrong with you ‘ madrassis’
Now look at these comments in the light of the Dove campaign. Surely it is a truism that Indians in general are obsessed with white skin. There is also a subconscious belief that to be considered ‘ good looking’ in a bollywood sense ,an actor ought to be good looking as defined by North Indians . That includes fair skin. As for gimmicks those who make these comments may not have seen EVEN ONE RAJNI FILM.
The Dove campaign showed in one ad a 92 YEAR OLD TOOTHESS AFRICAN WOMAN ! Her innocent smile reflected a high degree of innocence , self esteem and inner beauty that is in contrast to the shallowness evident in ‘ beauty queens’ one -fifth her age.
Rajni holds out the same hope of self esteem to dark skinned people in Tamilnadu and elsewhere-of whom there are millions including yours truly .Bombarded by a barrage of subliminal messages from the North Indian dominated media of India we are reminded by Rajni that there is no harm in being dark skinned .We could hold our heads high in self esteem no matter how we looked.
Then comes another symbolism that Rajni stands for,
British author Christopher Booker writes that there are basically 7 plots that recur in the stories of all cultures across eras. One of these is the RAGS TO RICHES story. Writes Booker ‘ Few things have more consistently appealed to the fantasies of mankind than the dream of emerging from obscurity to fame and fortune. We see it in people’s perennial dream of having their humdrum lives miraculously transformed by a lottery win or conceiving some idea that will bring fabulous riches or simply by being plucked out from the anonymous crowd to become the focus of attention and celebrity.’
Rajnikant is a stirring example of a man who rose from obscurity as a bus conductor to stardom .What is more he retained his simple nature at all times, never forgot his friends—they are still bus conductors– and is known to be a big philanthropist. His humility will put to shame far lesser accomplished actors in Bollywood. .I have seen at Indian airports some of the obscure actors of Bollywood making fools of themselves . In their attempt to attract public attention to themselves they even manhandle girls if only to show that they are celebrities and therefore above the law and norms of decency. They may be ‘ handsome’ in the north Indian sense and they may well become tomorrow’s Shah Rukh Khan but they will never command my respect the way Rajni does. No matter that they are fair skinned !
Shah Rukh Khan by endorsing a skin whitening product manufactured ironically by the people who make Dove works on the contrary principle. He and Unilever are trying to tell gullible people that YOU OUGHT TO BE VERY DEPRESSED THAT YOU ARE DARK SKINNED. DON’T WORRY HEPL IS AT HAND. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO TRY OUR PRODUCT AND THE WORLD WILL BE AT YOUR FEET.
Bollywood stars command admiration but not love and personal relationship. They are seen as far too distant –almost living in a different planet –where ordinary mortals cannot reach. That is the difference between Bollywood and Kollywood.
In a recent photograph Rajni was seen as he is in non-film life Bald, simply attired and accessible to the common man. Contrast this to Bollywood’s greatest star. He has been seen for the bald man that he is by only one person, a journalist who sneaked into the ICU where he was sleeping where he had no option but to be his normal self ! The ICU may be the only place where a Bollywood star may be his or her normal self .What does this tell us of Rajni’s self esteem and confidence?
I recall meeting Sri Sri Ravisankar along with a rather plump friend of mine. She asked the Guru how she could overcome her weight problem. He asked her how it was affecting her. She replied that she felt inferior. His advice ‘You are cute as you are. Don’t worry what others tell you. Don’t let advertisements bother you’
Next time you harbor irrational beliefs MIND IT !
K.R.RAVI
USA