Piggy Chops-Too Clever By Half

 

Ever since I first saw her on TV way back when she was a teen,I have been a huge fan of Priyanka Chopra.Without any godfather ,she has made it big in the entertainment industry, and not just in the Bollywood, but has managed to remain relevant in the Hollywood as well.There is a certain joie-de-vivre associated with her smile ,general demeanour and body language,which has sustained her for more than a decade and a half now.Here is an actress who can laugh, shake a leg and doesn’t look all-plastic and carries all the oomph a diva can hope for. Priyanka Chopra has made Bareilly proud , and ‘wannabe’ look cool over the years.

 

But now she is an international star.To build a global profile she has taken to commenting on world affairs. There is something deeply troubling about her manipulative world view. Manipulations work well in the Bollywood  because stakes are low. But it becomes a different ball game when you start posing as a world citizen.

 

Last year she produced a Sikkimese film and then suggested in a promo event that the state was troubled with insurgency and violence.This ,about a state, whose Tourism Ministry also subsidized a part of her film  production. She did tender a vague apology, but made a lot of hue and cry about the just trolling she had received on account of her utterances. Extremely dumb,but forgivable, the world moved on.

 

Last month ,she landed in Bangladesh to ask after the plight of Rohingya kids.It was  a noble effort except that I noticed she donned a headscarf/hijab in every picture that she posted on the social media.What she wears is her personal choice,and there might have been sun ,but then why not a baseball cap ? Such bending over backwards to please the so-called Islamic sensibilities must be dubbed as shameless appeasement, especially when she also certified that the Rohingyas had been ‘forcibly’ uprooted from their motherland. Pee See signified then, that she had arrived on the big stage and was now a global player,someone who was quite aware of the finer nuances related to terrorism,ethnic violence and forced migration.

 

Last week I saw a lovely clip in which PC demonstrated to a correspondent how ‘Bollywood was just about ass and boobs’ and did a cute little step to demonstrate it. That was fun. That’s the kind of stuff that Priyanka carries with loads of confidence. This is the Akshay Kumar school of comedy,and PC is the female Akki. She topped this with that lovely denim-cut out dress she wore on ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’. If a girl has such kickass life and bindaas attitude ,and everything going for her ,why try to upturn the apple cart ?

 

Now she is caught in a major controversy related to a Quantico episode.The producers, ABC, have already apologized for the story-line which suggested that the ‘Hindu Nationalists’ carried out a bomb attack in Manhattan in the hope that Pakistan would be blamed for this act of terror just before a proposed summit on Kashmir .The massive protests and the resulting apology signify  that ABC has already conceded that such a plot is too implausible to be even as proper material for fiction. Piggy Chops has also apologized.She has reiterated that she is a proud Indian,and didn’t want to hurt any sentiments.Fine.Chalo chalo.Aage badho.

 

One minute there! I just went over her apology. Something just didn’t seem right to me.

 

“I’m extremely saddened and sorry that some sentiments have been hurt by a recent episode of Quantico. That was not and would never be my intention. I sincerely apologize. I’m a proud Indian and that will never change.”

 

The objection to the episode had been two fold.One one hand,it portrayed Hindu nationalists as terrorists. which brings to mind the desperate efforts of the UPA government to give currency to the term ‘Hindu Terror’. The efforts didn’t bear fruit and it has been demonstrated to the world that all such allegations against so-called Hindu terrorists were cooked up. As a Hindu,it should have struck PC while acting in the episode that she was  being  part of  anti-Hindu propaganda. At least now she could have clearly stated that she was a proud Indian, as well as a Hindu, and that it was  a huge mistake on her part to act in such a episode which peddled Pakistani /Islamic propaganda  by portraying India ,as well as Hindus,complicit in formenting trouble across the world.But then nowhere does she declare that she is a practicing Hindu.There is no regret that she was a part of the show. This also raises a question as to what was her intention ? What is it that she really wanted to convey ? ABC has clearly admitted that they goofed up.Where is Piggy Chops’ clear-cut explanation ?

 

To argue that she is dumb,or just an artist doesn’t make sense here.IF she wants to remain just an artist,why meet the Rohingyas and get transformed into a public figure? Priyanka Chopra should remember that Quantico works because she is an Indian, and commands a huge market.Meghan Merkel socializes with her,and sends her wedding invite because she comes from India and just being associated with her gets anyone global publicity.If it is us ,Indians and Hindus,who provide her with this power,we should make sure she has some accountability towards us.As of now,we don’t even know if she is a Hindu,let alone a proud one ! I don’t know why many of our icons feel inferiority complex while talking about their own religion.I admire Islamists for proudly flaunting their religious affliliations.

 

Anyway,PC must not be given benefit of doubt here.Film industry should keep off from supporting her unconditionally.Her apology should also make it clear why is she apologizing her in the first place.

---

 

#pc #nickpriyanka #nickjonas #quantico #hindutva #hindu #rohingya #hinduterror #piggychops