Elder Sister & Her Filmy Darlings

Elder Sister & Her Filmy Darlings

Of late, Tollywood actors have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. But then can one expect anything more from them? I had the misfortune to be drawn into a tele-film and one or two TV serial episodes in order to play myself when my own stories were being filmed and what I saw from close quarters was really sad. Barring a very few our Tollywood film population is a lot one tries to avoid. They bore one with their lack of grey matter and at the same time they frighten one with their inordinate ambitions and greed. They’ll do anything to get a role, sign a contract, make more money or put down a rival actor or actress.

Unfortunately they feel a Wiccan can help them achieve any or all of their goals.  They pursue me---sometimes openly and more often with wile and guile so that their rivals won’t get wind of it. These days when one of the breed phones me---I airily say, ‘wrong number’. I really can’t take it anymore!

What amazes me is how and why a certain lady chief minister pampers them and molly coddles them. At important political rallies they look very sweet, the little, or not so little poppets, sitting prettily on the stage while the chief minister strides around, flapping a white shawl, looking on with pride at the dollies---both male and female. They touch her feet. When asked to, they sing. Elder sister holds hands with them and sways to the music. Sometimes one of them even kisses her on the top of her head and she blushes purple. I believe they draw in the crowds. But does she need them so much? Where’s her own confidence? Can’t she and her own team bring on the masses without the Tollywood Barbies? 

The saddest sight is at Delhi and the Parliament. These poor mites can’t speak a word. They need direction, my lovelies. Direction. You see they had been given tickets to contest the General Elections and due to Bengal’s misfortune, they won a seat to Parliament. But what happens next? They get nice little quarters on South Avenue, they get their substantial salaries but-----they can’t pronounce a word when it comes to bringing up an issue or representing their state. After all, there is no director here, saying  ‘’Action’’  and ‘’Cut’’. These players and performers from the Tollywood entertainment world cut  pathetic figures in Delhi. Poor things. But I’d say they’ve been shoved into this predicament by their mentor, and elder sister in Kolkata. Maybe she felt they would be easier to handle having very little matter up in the head---but is this good for Bengal? We are being laughed at. Isn’t it bad enough that the lady CM is called ‘mad’? Goodbye to the good name we once had for being the intellectuals of the land.

I just remembered a well-known make-up artist once said recently that it’s hard to make the dollies look intelligent. It’s well nigh impossible. Won’t elder sister help? One request. That’s all. Don’t send them to Delhi. I blush for them.

Tears and Tantrums Over the Sex Cocktail

Tears and Tantrums Over the Sex Cocktail

My last blog dealt with the tamasha which goes on over the sex cocktail in our present day society. What I wrote obviously hit many a raw nerve for what tears and tantrums there followed, my lovelies. Some who thought they were being targeted went into depression. Now, now, you must know I’m not an unkind person but it’s like this. I am fond of so many of you as individuals. But you can’t expect me to be fond of your way of life. That has to be my decision and attitude. So many of you are talented, intelligent, creative young men and women. I admire your talent. Not your sexual orientation.

The late Rituparno Ghosh used to confide so many of his problems regarding his way of life. He was unhappy about the route his life was taking. He was devoted to me and I was truly fond of him. But I still feel that being gay did not work for him. I think Indroneel Mukherjee is a vastly creative designer and an extremely witty conversationalist. But Indroneel should not take it amiss if I cannot follow his attitudes regarding gender. At one time a young Tollywood actress crossed my Wiccan path and wanted me to teach her. She was acting in my serial Parapaar on ETV Bangla. She is talented and a lovely young woman. She confided in me about her orientation. I taught her the Wiccan tenets for awhile but I realized  that Wicca was not for her. She could never be a Wiccan. I asked her to move on. Also I felt it was my duty to my other students to keep our Brigade homophobic as it is meant to be.  

Ipsita Roy Chakraverti

In the course of my life and work  I have come across other young men and women, gay and lesbian.  They respect me and I am always happy to see them. But it has to end there. I may teach them a thing or two about Wicca but I cannot accept them as long term students.  Yes, I am homophobic.  The thought of a same-sex sexual relationship is unacceptable to me. Wicca believes in natural bonds. Wicca believes in Nature. A gay or lesbian relationship is unnatural.

The LGBT general cries itself hoarse that gays are born not made. That may be true. But in that case keep yourselves to yourselves. Make your own community. Do not intrude into the straight and homophobic world. I have often heard them claim that their way of thinking has a lot in common with Wicca. Heaven forbid! Wicca believes in straight relationships, it believes in being alone if need be. It believes in supremacy of spirit and mind. The body comes a second or third. Wicca believes in emotional  and intellectual bonding. Not in the LGBT cocktail of the sexes.

A Circus of Genders

A Circus of Genders

Yes, I mean it. Seriously. Have you stopped to consider which of the many genders you belong to? Take your pick. What will be your pleasure? Like wine or whisky. I know and am quite aware of the fact that different sexual orientations have been around in the past. Well known people in history, and even in more recent times, from all walks of life have had same- sex liaisons and attachments and got on with life. But that’s just what I mean. They were attachments. Two people bonded irrespective of sex. Perhaps one can even claim that they had spiritual connections. The mind and emotions played a part.

 What I see around me these days is a circus of genders. Not very long ago, homosexuals were not called ‘gay’ as they are now. They accepted their tag of ‘queer’. I think that word said it all. It’s such a pity that the lovely word ‘gay’ which can raise thoughts of happiness and being carefree should be applied to them. In the past, people sniggered a bit when they saw two men walking down the street together---maybe arm in arm. But that was their business---and as I said maybe they had a lot in common. Nowadays, as I look around me I find it’s a fad----perhaps a queer one, but it’s a way of attracting notice. It’s a way of stating that you’re ‘different’ from the chap on the street.

Ipsita Roy Chakraverti

A bright young man once told me that he had turned ‘gay’ ever since he discovered that his boss was that way. The problem arose when his rich girlfriend ditched him. He was willing to please both but she objected. I asked him what sex he really was. My lovelies, that’s a darned awkward question to ask but he wanted my advice. His answer after a bit of thought, was that he felt he was bisexual! My. My. Isn’t one greedy? Swinging both ways. He said his being ‘gay’’ had paid dividends at office. But when he told his girl, she blew her lid. She asked him how he would like it if she ’made out’ with another girl. He said he wouldn’t mind it since society was changing. Also, he said he wouldn’t mind  it if it helped in the rat race. How disgusting can one be!

This LGBT movement we spend so much time acclaiming today, is just another way of pandering to aberrations of the mind. We have forgotten the exhilaration which comes from mind and spirit. We seek distorted thrills from unnatural acts of the body. Why has this phenomenon escalated? Maybe our society, especially Indian society has become broken into units. People are isolated one from the other. If somebody is ill or even passes away in a flat, the neighbours are unaware or don’t care. It’s a mad race for money and success. People are lonely. Strange psychological twists of mind arise.  If being queer brings a bit of company---so be it. It is also an inexpensive way of life. Marriage and a family mean money and responsibility.

Please understand. I’m not against any gender. After all, in today’s world surgeons are turning men into women and the other way around. Then they get married. It’s just that I’d feel a bit weird if a ’transformed’ individual sat close to me. Do I sound racist? I’m not. By the way, a well-known film director once asked me if all Wiccans were ‘asexual’. I guess that means we don’t give that much importance to sex. We’re cold? No, it’s not that my dear. It’s just that we tread the straight and narrow.