What started as a impromptu angry reaction of Deepika Padukone, soon turned into Bollywood vs media debate and us vs them debate within the media. After backlash from all quarters for carrying offensive photo of the actress, the daily has now published their ‘point of view’ once again.
The daily counters Deepika’s Real vs Reel argument by saying, “Deepika, we accept your reel vs real argument, but what about all the times, and there have been many, when you have flaunted your body off screen – while dancing on stage, posing for magazine covers, or doing photo ops at movie promotional functions? What ‘role’ do you play there? So why the hypocrisy? What’s equally hypocritical is that several media outlets have freely displayed Deepika’s cleavage even as they sounded all outraged on her behalf. Surely they could have reported the story without those pictures?”
“Yes, the headline could have been better. But the world of online is very different from that of newspapers. It is chaotic and cluttered – and sensational headlines are far from uncommon.”
“We have always campaigned against the moral police. We believe there’s no shame in Deepika showing off her body, but does she now want us to first check with her as to which pictures of her – taken at public events – we can or cannot publish? Are we going to have a parallel censor board for pictures of film stars taken off screen but in plain sight of the world, as Deepika’s was? It’s not as if the pictures were shot with hidden cameras, or that someone sneaked into her home, invaded her privacy, and took those pictures without her knowledge/permission.”
The actress in an attempt to put an end to the controversy had penned down her thoughts to make her point of view clear to one and all on Friday (September 19). My issue is objectification of a REAL person: Deepika Padukone
“Yes we marvel, envy and drool over a male actors 8pack abs in a film, but do we zoom in on the mans ‘crotch’ when he makes a public appearance and make that ‘cheap headlines’??,” Deepika had wrote.
To this the daily replied by saying, “Deepika, just for the record, we do not zoom into a woman’s vagina or show her nipples. As a newspaper, we take every care to ensure that we pixelate them if they show up in a picture, but your cleavage is as sexy as Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘8-pack’ abs. Given the nature of the online media worldwide, there could well have been a story headlined, “OMG…Shah Rukh’s 8-pack sexy abs!!!”
Also accusing Deepika for using the “tweet” as a publicity vehicle surrounding the recent release Finding Fanny.
“Despite having made your point on Twitter, you have chosen to re-tweet every message and given as many interviews as you could. This has obviously been great publicity for you, timed perfectly with the release of your new film. The video’s been on YouTube for a year, why object now?” (sic)
One wonders if this war of words will ever come to an end.
