Big B

Well if anyone is happy or excited that they are going to read a blog on the one and only Big B that the people in India are familiar with, well then they are totally mistaken. I am no fan of his and to me he has never been the great actor that people so rave about. One reason could be the fact that I have watched far too many Malayalam movies and hence know what fine acting is all about. The Big B in this blog refers to the big business of beauty. I could not have called it B3 once again as just recently I wrote about my favourite Big Black Bag. I don’t know how I missed writing about the business of beauty which is so prominently seen in every nook and corner of India. It took the death of two famous Indian beauties in a row, before I could think of writing on the subject. 28th July 2009, saw the death of Leela Naidu a woman of substance and a classical beauty and the 29th of July 2009, saw the death of Maharani Gayatri Devi, the Rajmata of the Jaipur Royal Family and an ethereal beauty. Both these women have been voted as being among the top ten beautiful women in the world. They were both natural beauties and took their looks in their stride. Yes, I am sure they must have had their own creams and potions to aid them in maintaining their beauty but at no point in time were they just looked upon as beautiful faces. Leela Naidu led a full life and did everything that the women of her generation did. As for the Rajmata, she dedicated herself to the people and was looked upon as their saviour.
Leela Naidu happened to be the winner of a Miss India Pageant and as for the Maharani, she was born in an era when such gimmicks were not around and anyway her beauty did not need the certification from a group of men and women who are at most times cocky and snobbish and have no clue of beauty other than the outer self. It was the 90’s that saw a barrage of Indian beauties in the world stage. Being one of the oldest civilizations in the world, I wonder why it took this long for the pageant organizers to spot an Indian beauty. The only goodness these pageants have done is to produce a crop of snooty young ladies who think no end of themselves. Not one of them has contributed anything to the society in which they live apart from strutting around like proud peacocks. The other group that have benefited by these pageants are the cosmetic manufacturers and people in the beauty treatment business.
Ever since Sushmita Sen was crowned Miss Universe and Aishwarya Rai as Miss World in the year 1994, there has been no looking back for the beauty industry in India. That year it seemed as if the only beautiful people in the world were in India. It made a total impact on the minds of the young and every young girl with a good complexion and height carried a secret wish to walk the ramp and make it to the top. Thus was born thousands of beauty parlours and schools to groom the beauticians and finishing schools for the aspirants to get the final polish. Until that time the only cosmetics available in India, were some creams, lipsticks and eye shadow or mascara. With this upbeat trend everything and anything to do with beautifying oneself started entering the market. This also opened the doors to the international cosmetic giants. 1994 to 2000 saw India producing six beauty queens in the world forum. This gave hope to all the youngsters that they could be the next winner. Seven years is a long enough a period to establish one’s hold in a consumer market and thus all the agents of beauty have had a fine run and are here to stay. The youth of India have come to the mindset that the only beautiful look is the one seen on the cover s of the glossy international fashion magazines. Thus they groom themselves towards attaining that look and as a result every one of the models and pageant participants have the same physique, hair and to a large extent the looks. They seem as if they have been mass produced in a factory. On my many trips abroad, it is when I see the man that I realize that the couple is of Indian origin. To me it is as if the Indian identity is totally lost.
If India could produce 6 beauty queens in six years, why has the production stopped in the last eight? Except for a Parvathy Omanakuttan who came as a first runner up this year, no one else has qualified for the title. Does this mean that our girls have all of a sudden become less beautiful? Frankly speaking they have in the intervening years become more and more like the way the West and the organizers of these pageants desire. Then why have they not been chosen? The reason is simple. The purpose for which the six queens were chosen is over. The whole idea was to me a marketing gimmick by the cosmetic giants in connivance with the organizers of the pageants. With the Indian Economy opening up and the IT industry gaining a foothold, it did not take long for the shrewd business houses to tap on the burgeoning middle class and the best way they could have done it was by producing these beauty queens. Now that the desired effects are in place they do not have to ensue humouring the Indian psyche and are free to latch on to the next economy that is opening up. Russia, the giant, after its Perestroika and Glasnost and the turmoil that followed is finally coming to terms with economic and personal freedom and thus the right moment for the beauty CZARS to seize. This they have definitely done by making sure that the Miss World 2009 is a Russian. I am assured this trend will follow for most part of the ensuing decade.
As a closing note I would like to add that among the six Indian beauty queens that the Big B has produced, the one most seen and heard is Aishwarya Rai and as if destined, she is the daughter in law of the only Big B that India has ever known.