Aruna Shields and Bollywood Class Morality

As it turns out, finding a Bollywood actress to do a nude scene in a film is not all that easy. Director Pravesh Bhardwaj has been beating the bushes to find a major star to do a scene in Mr Singh Mrs Mehta, some 60 said no. Then along comes the beautiful Aruna Shields to play the pivotal part of Neera.

This story, and the story within the making of this film is actually very interesting. Pravesh, it turns out, has gone through something of a life altering experience trying to get this story out. The role Sheilds is now slated to perform deals with the same sort of moral dilemma on screen, as Pravesh has been battling off. In the case of the real life drama unfolding, the director has been dealing with celebrities who apparently wrestled with the idea of nude scenes. In the on screen version, the character Neera is approaching this dilemma from a middle class morality standpoint.

In India, more so than in the United States or the UK, these morality issues have largely been dealt with. Perhaps the fact that Shields is from the UK has something to do with her take on the issue of nudity? Regardless, beyond the “right and wrong” of on screen nudity, Bollywood seems to be facing the same issues Hollywood did some years back. This is actually a good thing, and one made more complicated by the Indian culture too.

We find ourselves sitting on familiar territory reading about this interesting juncture for the film Mr Singh Mrs Mehta. While all India on Google searches for hot pictures of Aruna Shields, many of the women of that culture seem adamant about withholding the veil of intimacy. A sort of morality at the juncture story, and age old one perhaps? This looks to be an interesting film, but maybe not as interesting as the real life drama playing out in the making of?