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Bigg Boss Malayalam is in the news after misogynist Rajith Kumar put chilli paste in the eyes of a woman he felt was too loud, too opinionated. Really?
Bigg Boss Malayalam 2 has been in the news since day one due to major fights, controversies and a lot more. Recently it’s in controversy due to misogynistic contestant Rajith Kumar smearing chilli paste on the eyes of a fellow contestant, Reshma Rajan.
Rajith Kumar is known for his misogynist comments and was one of the most popular contestants in Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 2. On the 66th episode of the season, the contestants were given the task of acting like school children and teachers.
During the task, Reshma was playing the character of a schoolchild. Rajith pretended to bless her but applied chilli paste on her eyes.
Many journalists believe that Rajith did this to Reshma because he’s a misogynist – one such journalist Sunitha Devadas claimed that Rajith’s move against Reshma was not because he was being provoked as claimed by him. It was, instead, a reflection of his misogynistic beliefs that couldn’t accept a woman having an opinion and a lifestyle like hers.
In her review, Sunitha Das said, “He thinks that Reshma deserved an assault like this. There are reasons for it. Reshma had declared that she did not want to have children or get married. She spoke loudly and firmly about her opinions. She is a woman who smoked with men. She scornfully reacted to Rajith’s theories and classes. We have heard some elderly people saying that chilli paste should be applied to such women. Rajith is an advocate of those orthodox beliefs.”
One of the most striking facts about Rajith Kumar is his misogynistic views.
In 2013, he had given a glimpse of his views during an interaction with college students, saying that women who wear jeans will give birth to transgender babies. Although this statement brought a lot of criticism it didn’t affect him and his fan base. This strong backbone of fan base made him repeat the same statement for a television show a few years later. Not just this, he also said that women’s uterus would get displaced when they jump and this can cause infertility (because obviously what is science!).
Clearly Bigg Boss 2 Malayalam included him on the show because sadly the show despite being one the most-watched reality shows runs on controversy, and Rajith Kumar is a live example of controversy.
The contestant who just a day before hurt medically injured someone was welcomed with garlands and bouquets on Cochin International Airport by a huge group of fans, many even saying that they would boycott Bigg Boss because of this! Wow, what a hero!
Big names have also supported him, like Malayalam actor Manoj Kumar who put out a video saying he would stop watching the channel because of this elimination.
This has led to rumours that Rajith will be called back to the show, because TRP and so-called entertainment is more important than a woman’s dignity.
What Rajith did with Reshma was wrong, but what’s more wrong is inviting him as a contestant on such a big platform. A person like Rajith does not deserve the glorification and popularity that a platform like Bigg Boss brings. Instead, he deserves to be condemned for his patriarchal mindset.
Sadly this is not the first time Bigg Boss has blatantly glorified misogyny and people who spread misogyny – there is the case of Sidharth Shukla who was the winner of the 13th Hindi season of Bigg Boss, despite his violence against women on the show, and in his past. In that, there was also the case of women contestants shamed for hanging their undergarments in the house while men doing the same was ok, because mard ke boxers are acceptable and our bra is shameful.
In Bigg Boss Tamil a contestant Ponnambalam made comments about what a woman wears, what a woman should do, and why she should be looked at as someone’s mother, sister, daughter, or wife has been talked about.
Glorifying sexism, misogyny and controversy is a tactic that most reality shows use as an easy way to gain TRP. It’s high time that the show makers understand how this shapes mindsets, and hence the responsibility on these shows to be more ethical.
Image source – Youtube
I read, I write, I dream and search for the silver lining in my life. Being a student of mass communication with literature and political science I love writing about things that bother me. Follow read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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