Right of Livelihood of Bar Dancers Versus Right of Neighbourhoods : Madhu Purnima Kishwar : In 2005 when Mumbai’s Dance Bars were shut down, I gladly accepted the invitation of bar dancers’ organization to address their rally in Azad Maidan to protest against the ban imposed by the Government on their profession. My argument was simple; women who dance in these bars are merely emulating what we see celebrated actresses do in every second Bollywood film. If anything most bar dancers dress far more modestly than Bipasha Basu or Katrina Kaif do while dancing raunchy numbers like Bidi Jalaiye le or Chikni Chameli. Their only fault is that most bar dancers come from miserably poor families; many end up in the profession because they have been abandoned by husbands or are sole breadwinners supporting disabled or sick parents and younger siblings. By contrast most film heroines today come from highly educated and wealthy families. At that rally, bar dancers who spoke from the stage openly abused the police for their hypocrisy saying: “They say we are immoral. But they have no shame coming and raiding the bars in order to extort money from us. What does that make them? Bhadwas?” Articale by my Mentor
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 13:42:59 +0000