It’s no big secret, that from stalking & catcalling the heroine to chasing & harassing her, a Hindi film hero does everything in the name of ‘love’, no matter how problematic, misogynistic & plain disgusting that behaviour!
While there are enough and more movies with stalker-like heroes claiming their apparent love for the heroine, turns out, when it comes to Holi, this stalking and harassing takes a whole new turn, an even more problematic one at that.
Take any Bollywood Holi song and everything from the lyrics to the video has the hero groping and harassing the girl without her consent because bura na maano Holi hai!
Since the time of yesteryear stars such as Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra, the festival of Holi has been projected as one where the girl is objecting to being colored but still, there’s nothing stopping the guy.
Add to that the ridiculous lyrics that are nothing but a proud declaration of the guy not giving two hoots about consent!
The lyrics only get more troublesome when there are innuendos made about the girl’s body!
No matter what the situation of the song or the plot of the movie, there’s ALWAYS a mention of the girl’s wet choli, chunariya or aanchal!
As if the girl had a choice!
This trend has obviously continued over the years and every time there’s a Holi song, expect it to be oozing with harassment of the girl.
Like, what’s the padosan‘s fault in this case? Isn’t all this talk of the girl’s gajra and kajra getting destroyed nothing but plain harassment?
It’s a scary trend to have the hero daring the girl to do whatever she can but nothing’s going to stop him from playing Holi with her!
No matter what the age of the protagonist, trust him to indulge in this unwanted behavior because that’s the spirit of Holi, right?
Let the girl plead to be left alone but the hero is just NOT going to listen!
And in the more recent times, this harassment in the name of Holi has only gotten worse.
Now, the lyrics are even more descriptive and graphic & the hero’s hormones are on an overdrive. How does he show he’s manly? Simply by holding the girl’s kalayi without her consent!
Apparently, Bollywood thinks it’s nothing but innocently ‘naughty’ of the hero if he’s ogling at the heroine from his window!
Trust Bollywood to normalize getting a girl drunk before the guy can take advantage of her!
At a time when crimes against women are at an all time high & Holi is being celebrated by throwing semen-filled balloons at girls, it’s absolutely appalling to have leading Bollywood films have songs that show Holi as nothing but the hero harassing the girl against her wishes.
Bura na maano Holi hai, is it? There’s something called consent. Ever heard of it, Bollywood?
