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Monday, January 29, 2007

Big Brother and the Racism

Shilpa Shetty has won the reality television show Big Brother. The show created huge hue and cry over so called racist comment made by one of the participants Jane Goody on her fellow participant Shilpa Shetty. This controversy once again united world against any form of racism. Even British PM Tony Blair, British Finance Minister Gordon Brown , key Indian Ministers/officials had to speak on this. British FM's India visit was over showed by this controversy where he had to condemn the racism repeatedly. Oxfam, the British televisions regulator received more than 35,000 complaints and the host channel "Channel 4 " alone received more than 4000 comments directly.

 

Whole media across the globe, be it Nepal television or BBC, covered the news with great news value. In this whole affair how Indian media could be left behind. They not only condemned the racism but compared this affair with pride of India. They denounce every form of racism by whites in various forms. In hush, they forgot they also are racist and follow another form of racism.

 

If you see Indian films or soaps or ads, they present Nepali people as idiot, illiterate watchman "Bahadur". I am not pointing bahadur as low class job, every job has their own wonderful status, but pointing out this how Indian media are full of mediocre mind. Either it's Yes Boss, Krishh, Sleep Well's ad or Gharwali Baharwali, they all have shown Nepali as stupid guard who is just able to be watchman. Gharwali baharwali even crossed the limit and showed that Nepali always like khaki color because they are bound to be watchman. Agreed many Nepalis are forced to go to India and work as menial labor because of low economic status or lack of opportunities.

 

Isn't portraying Nepali people like this a form of racism? Ask some Indians who are Nepali people, they will answer Bahadur or Gurkha are. May be it's not in terms of color or race, but is a form of racism in terms of work and economy/talent. How fair is it to show whole Nepali as illiterate who cannot speak well and only serve others. And irony is Nepali people also find such roles funny and so called Gurkha or Bahadur enjoys watching such movies or ads or soaps. Big question for you all Nepali accross, "Will you still love watching movies like Krissh or Bhagam Bhag or Gharwali baharwali and laugh on yourself?"

 

3 comments:

Wasted innovations said...

Nice article man!! Congratulations to Shilpa Shetty n thanx to u for picking out such an issue. As far as the portraying of Nepali people thing is concerned, well, it is certainly not comfortable to c how they portray us. And, honestly, i dont enjoy watching Nepali being shown as "Bahadurs".

Well, i guess that's how they have stereotyped us always. N it wont end until we ourselves leave an effective mark in front of the world. I dont know how we can do that, but lets face it, we have always been like this: Blaming others! The government is not doin well, we blame the politicians. Everyday, we face a new kind of bandhs n strikes, we blame the System. No sufficient electricity, we blame the corrupted officials. Country's getting poorer n so less development, we again blame the politicians. Well, who are these politicians? Our own people. The ones that we sent as our representatives. Who voted 'em? We did. So who's to blame after all?? I know we all know the answer. I guess we just keep ignoring it.

Anonymous said...

Comments made by Wasted innovations is very true. We, Nepali have habit of complaining to the system but when time comes to act, we run away. People don't go to vote deserving candidate and later complain govn did this or tht. Now Constituent Election is coming, i am sure half of us won't go to vote but will not let go chance to complain. This is the system and will be. Like i said in article, we love to see ourselves being abused by others. When one Nepali character says somthing in broken hindi with strong nepali accent, we laugh. Then why don't they exploit us. See the Indian Media, they always try to promote nepal as conflict affected unsafe place where bombs go off in every seconds. They make big headlines when some band is announced and with help of archive video files show how worst situation even though we might be having light time here. They gave high importance to Maoist's bands in past time, but when Arpil Uprising brought hopes of peace, they went to may be Pakistan or Bangladesh or other places. History is being made here, peace process is gaining momentum and Nepal is again becoming The SHANGRI-La but Indian and other medias are not showing such good news. I know newsvalue may affect how worthy is news, but this has great news value. Why Indian Media are keeping eyes blind? I am not hoping and asking that they would make nepal as their headlines. But i want them to stop discriminating us. If they want respect, they should learn to respect others too...

And moreover we, the Nepali people should stop laughing on ourself.

Anonymous said...

I dont agrree with the article saying tht portraying nepali with bahadurs and gurkhas is kind of racism... n especially in indian movies,its not at all...its a form of entertainment. You guys only see that nepali are typecasted and feel offensive .. but its not exactly like tht... why dont u guys notice that they also make fun of their own languages and castes..like bengolis, madrasis, biharis.... so u htink all madrasis and biharis are as they portray... no certainly not... u think punjaabis are as stupid n dumb as they make jokes on them... certainly not ... i can say this frm my own expereince...punjaabis are one of the best businessmen... Even outside our continent...blondeds and irish people are regarded as dumb people, do u guys know... as punjabis are to indians so are irish to english people adn blondes to americans...so guys i only wanna say tht dont get offened by those things...its just a form of entertainment...take it lightly and enjoy...its NOTHING TO GET OFFENDED...

And rabin indian media want masalas...its not only nepal that they attack saying its unsafe place n blah blah... if u watch the news carefully even just for a day.. u'll see wht rubbish news they telecast..even frm their own country...its not they show good things about their country n only bad about us... they dont spare anyone.. the only thing they look for is masalas..thats it..no matter where it comes from...