Feminine Body Ideal in South Indian Cinema

[dangermousie]

One of the myriad reasons I love Bollywood is because the women in it, while not fat, have healthy-looking bodies, unlike the stick-thin Hollywood actresses with collarbones sticking out.

The interesting thing is, I have recently been looking at pictures of South Indian actresses (the ones in Tamil, Telugu, Malayam, Kannada etc films. These are separate movie industries from Bollywood). I've only seen a few South Indian movies, and they appear a lot less Westernized. Interestingly, the South Indian female stars are also plumper than Bollywood ones (and the men love mustaches). I wonder if it's because there is still the older, healthy=well-fed ideal that is pre-modern-West. And I think that's one of the many reasons it's good to watch a wide variety of cinema: because then you see not only stick-thin (Hollywood) or pillowy (South Indian), but basically every body type. (SI actresses are also generally darker skinned, which I also find interesting, given Bollywood obsession with "fairness" as another Western-inherited ideal). The interesting thing is, some of the South Indian actresses are slender (none are skinny), so I find the mix very interesting.

OK, this is sort of a very verbose introduction to pic spam of curvaceous, healthy-looking and pretty South Indian actresses from slender to plump.


Meera Jasmine:


Sneha:



Soundarya:


Kavya Madhavan:


Pooja:


Namitha:



Rakshita:


Saloni:


Ankitha:


Genelia:


Gayatri Raghuram:


Sandhya:


Gopika:


Simran:



Devayani:


Mallika:


Chaya Singh:


Renuka Menon:


I think this is the most interesting pic. Can you imagine a woman with this body shape in this outfit (as a sexpot, not a comedy figure) in a Hollywood movie? Vive le difference!

Comments

[thelana.livejournal.com]

Simran is hot!

I'm so blind for these kind of things. A lot of these look fairly fairskinned to me. At least in these pictures (naturally they are often darker when animated/on screen).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Simran is definitely hot. I love Sneha, too.

I also find it interesting that a lot of the heroines seem to have a more "innocent sheltered village belle" vibe (though not Simran, heee), which is something that you don't see much of in modern Bolly heroines.

Re: darker skin. I was thinking of a combo between the less Westernized features and the (admittedly) few SI movies I've seen, where the skin tint looks more "natural" than it does on your average Bolly queen. There is no question that a SI actress is still lighter skinned than your average South Indian person, but compare "Big Star" Jyothika in "Dumm Dumm Dumm" (I don't have a good pic, but it's a movie well worth-checking out) who looks very Indian (though not really dark) to someone like Aishwarya who could easily pass for a South European.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

So, any recs for good SI films? Preferably such which don't have any guest starring BW actresses?

Is SI the same as Telegu? Because I heard Telegu movies are often much darker and more violent than you average BW fare. Which sounds totally like my thing.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Telugu films are South Indian, just as Tamil or Malayam or Kannadu. I was just lazy to type all those words out.

It depends what you are looking for. I've seen very few, so I might not be the best person to ask though.

Autograph is excellent and thoughtful (and apparently now being remade with Abhi).

Kaakha Kaakha is a police movie cum love story that's supposed to be good.

Radha Gopalam I love Sneha.

Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana is really worth it if you don't mind romance.

I adored Dumm Dumm Dumm which is a funny, cute, earthy romantic comedy of errors (think Hulchul, only less crazed).

Varsham is a Telugu movie that has good rep (though it's more Masala than darkness) but I haven't seen it, even though it's on my list.

Any Mani Ratnam movie is worth checking out.

This thread on Bollywhat is really helpful: http://bollywhat.com/forum/index.php?topic=8589.0

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

My family's South Indian (Kannada to be specific) and girls are supposed to be on the plumper side. My mother was SO SKINNY when she was younger, because she didn't eat much as a child, and her family was always saying she needed to put on weight. It was like if you were too skinny, you looked bad, the exact opposite of what it is over here.

I think it's because being on the heavier side means you're well-fed or something like that. We equate weight with prosperity.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

This is what I thought. When I grew up in the Soviet Union, too skinny was viewed as unattractive as well...

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Sadly, not anymore. All westernized now and into dieting.

Russian girls currently all look like this:

[autumn-yaar.livejournal.com]

Saloni- from Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think so. I think she is beautiful.

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

You grew up in the Soviet Union? I honestly had no idea. I assumed you were North American. Don't know why, I just did. So, where did you live?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Live in the US now and have for the last 14 years :)