Beckham, sex and big
business By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - Every once in a while a scandal
breaks out in the West that elicits as many opinions and
remarks in India as anywhere else. Such is the case with
the latest David Beckham infidelity episode that is
occupying just as much media space in India as it is in
the rest of the world. Nicole Kidman-Tom Cruise-Penelope
Cruz, Elizabeth Hurley-Arun Nayyar and Salman
Rushdie-Padma Laxmi also draw full attention in India,
but the current alleged Beckham romps are in a different
league altogether - interest is probably at the same
level as that of the late Princess Diana's lovers, or the
Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky cigar talk.
It is
not easy to determine who is on which side. A friend of
this correspondent says that she would give up
everything, including her boyfriend she loves totally,
if English-born Real Madrid soccer star Beckham were in
her life, and says it is Beckham's wife, Victoria "Posh"
Beckham to blame, as she did not give him the attention
he deserves.
Indian women are not always as
demure as their outside demeanor would suggest. Earlier
this week it was as wild as it could get at an Enrique
Iglesias concert in Mumbai, where the pop star's
suggestive moves matched that of Britney Spears', all of
which were lapped up by an equally eager, mostly female
audience. Eighteen year-old Vrinda Gupta is a minor star
now, as she got to dance with and kiss the pop icon on
stage.
Meanwhile, where Beckham is concerned,
others (usually older) are not all that sympathetic to
the footballer, blaming him to be too harsh on his wife,
who wanted to pursue a career of her own in England,
just as he is in Spain. If he was lonely, so was she.
However, personal preferences aside, the Beckham
affair once again reinforces a facet of international
existence that has not hit the big time here as of yet -
that when it comes to making money, there is nothing
that sells better than a heavy dose of sex, whether
right or wrong, legal or illegal, with a celebrity
thrown in.
While Beckham seems to be struggling
to save his marriage, everybody else is, well, busy
raking in the moolah - his supposed affairs with former
personal assistant Rebecca Loos and model Sarah Marbeck,
who have reportedly been paid vast amounts to tell their
bedside stories; the tabloids whose sales and
advertisements have boomed; television which aims to
catch every move of Britain's number one celebrity
couple - there are even suggestions that Posh may be
re-jigging the release of her latest music album, riding
on the current hype.
It's a story that has
happened before and is not a gender thing anymore -
Lewinsky's million-dollar deals for her side of the
sex-capades, Paris Hilton's sex tape that her
ex-boyfriend cashed in on, Diana's several lovers and
their million-pound book deals, and even Prince Charles'
alleged male lovers - indeed, an affair with a celebrity
is one sure-shot way of earning the millions that one
can only dream of.
In India, there are countless
attempts by celebrities to re-invent themselves - from
changing hairstyles, to making bold statements about
politics, to changing wives. But sex has never been a
mass cultural phenomenon that can be used to meet the
one end - making pots of money and a lot of fame.
Recent Bollywood films such as Tum (You),
Murder and Hawas (lust) have tried to be bold,
experimenting with themes centered around one-night
stands and extra marital affairs. Though the movies
hinge on lust, the actual visuals pale in comparison to
even regular Hollywood movies, given the conservatism of
the censor board here. Further, most of the plots result
in a gory end to one of the protagonists. Nobody makes
any money, including the producers who are having a
tough time at present.
Indeed, unlike the United
States or the United Kingdom, Indian society is more
conventional, where certain subjects, including explicit
details of a love-affair, never find their way into
mainstream media. Sex is on their minds, but hardly
spoken in regular conversations involving family or
women friends. People do have access to such material -
on the Internet and pirated movies - but, when regular
television, newspapers and magazines talk of the
subject, there is always an element of subtlety and
imagery in play. Never is it a raw presentation. Even in
commercial hubs such as Mumbai, the cultural police,
composed of the cops as well as the political
establishment, ensure that couples do not have a free
run at parks, beaches or any public corner. Miss India
had to relinquish her title last month when it was found
that she was living with a guy and had lied about her
single status to the landlord to escape finger-pointing.
Her boyfriend has been similarly removed from a male
contest. The biggest opium here remains cricket that
attracts men of every genre as if there is no higher
turn-on. Sex is never a cultural thing.
Thus,
when women or men in the West boldly speak out in public
about their private lives and make a lot of money to
boot, it is a matter that attracts a lot of attention.
On the one hand, all of this could be wrong, on the
other, it also could be that there is something right.
Usually, when women speak out in India, they do so over
other issues that expose a sorry state of affairs -
Nisha Sharma on dowry or Zahira Sheikh who stood to
speak on the Best Bakery case, dealing with worst of
Hindu-Muslim riots and rape in the state of Gujarat in
2002.
No woman openly speaks on the subject of
love-making, forget about the kind of money that is
being doled out to tell one side of the full sex
picture. Taslima Nasreen, a Bangladesh writer, did try
to pen a book on her experiences, only to see it banned.
While it is true that it is generally believed that
levels of promiscuity as well as institutions such as
marriage are more at risk in the West than in a country
such as India, there is also a different side to the
tale. The Loos and the Lewinskys of the UK or the US at
least live to tell a story in a liberal society that
allows their existence. Many such instances in Indian
society never find a voice, given the stigma attached.
Some never live to tell their tale. They are simply
killed or threatened not to talk. When women or men make
a business out of their personal lives in the West,
there is yet a silver lining - they not only become part
of a huge entertainment spectacle, but they usually also
get away with it, alive. It is not as easy here.
Siddharth Srivastava is a New
Delhi-based journalist
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Diana's lovers, or the
Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky cigar talk. 
