B-grade(!) what?

desis do tend to compartmentalize things a lot. I'd been wanting to watch 'Aastha' for a very long time, but wasn't sure because of the reputation the movie had of steamy sex. actually I don't mind steamy sex in a movie but something about Om Puri, Rekha and steamy sex sounded either too censored or suggested that it would waste these two brilliant actors in trying to be a sensational movie. was I wrong? I'm so glad I was so off the line in my expectations. oh yes, the movie has sex. steamy? I guess you could call it that. maybe that's why the video upload on youtube was subtitled 'Bollywood B-grade movie'. huh what?! I would however say there was a very sensitive and real portrayal of not just sex but the pleasure of sex, or rather the difference between mechanical sex and the transcendental sort. hah! I said it, was wondering if I would be able to describe what I meant to say.

I'm amazed at the development of the characters and the story, given that it was made in 1997. but of course, Basu Bhattacharya was sensitive and honest beyond his times in his movies. I loved how the movie does not judge, although the character of Manasi loathes herself - and yet the loathing comes more from having betrayed rather than having prostituted herself. prostitution is so over hyped in Indian society. and this movie was literally thrown away by our society after being labelled immoral in some senses. and since 1997, not a lot has changed. even in 2014 an actress found to be selling sex was hounded by the moralists, although some women did come out against it and yet some did even that in a condescending manner.

I remember watching 'This is Life' with Lisa Ling and her coverage of the sugar babies in this country. I don't think an Indian journalist could do something similar with such sensitivity, while being so direct with her questions at the same time.

I wonder when desis, in general, will get out of their phobia of sex. and that's not even talking about sex outside of committed relationships; that's plain dishonest. but I'm talking about honest sex, the transcendental kind. in fact, probably the kind that inspired all those age-old carvings in temples and caves before 'hindus' suddenly began equating sex with sin.

I remember reading (the one and only) Shobha De novel (that I ever picked up) when I was about 13. the sex disgusted me, because it was the kind where the two people are mostly clothed, the woman more so, such that her sari is lifted for a quick mechanical marital intercourse. ugh, just thinking of it even now disgusts me. I'm not saying De was imagining it, seperated from the reality of desi marriages, but rather that the very fact that it is inspired from the reality of many marriages in the couple of generations before mine disgusts me. the covertness of the sex, its treatment similar to a sinful and shameful act that must be quick, hidden, and soon forgotten, disgusts me.

Indians need to learn about sex. maybe from their own history. people my age are thankfully growing up to it but there's still a lot of the taboo-ness, the inhibitions, the giggling, the inability to talk about it, and of course to really engage in the physical act too. I mean, sex is not just intercourse, people. go watch 'Aastha'. and not just for the sex.