Sexist remarks at audio functions, a cheap publicity gimmick ?

Actor Chalapathi Rao's statement that 'Women are useful in bed' is as shocking as it comes. He said these words during an audio release function of Naga Chaitanya's film 'Rarandoyi Veduka Chooddam' with a tagline 'ammayilu arogyaniki haanikaram' (girls are dangerous to health).

The discussion at the time was if every one agreed to the line that women are indeed dangerous and the female anchor Geeta Bhagat, who went with this question to the character actor with several decades of experience, referring to him as a father figure she was evidently flustered with his response; the male anchor Ravi on the other hand responded by saying 'Super' a superlative approval in short, while many in the audience including the young inheritor of Akkineni legacy Naga Chaitanya burst out laughing at the poor attempt of a joke (which he denied in a tweet, a day later).

As the wome’s organisations, women in general and several actors joined in condemning this statement all over social media promptly the apologies followed. Chalapathi Rao explained how 'there is always a double meaning' attached to every word in Telugu, and how he always had respect for women and profoundly apologised 'because people think he made a mistake'.

While Nagarjuna distanced himself from the event with a tweet condemning the action, everyone else jumped in, some soon, some a little later in calling it an irresponsible and derogatory act. However, it is the right time to reflect on how these audio functions thrive on women slandering, objectification of the heroines, and generous use of innuendos with sexual undertones some direct and at other times indirectly. In the name of humour and banter, the presenters of these shows, both male and female, most of the times, cross the line of decency.

Comedy actor Ali faced the ire of the social media when he called Anushka Shetty 'Hot like a jalebi whom everyone wants to eat'. But this was not the first time he is a popular anchor for film functions, and no event that he presents goes by without he making such comments on heroines. Samantha, Kajal, Tamanna you name them and they have all bore the brunt of his crude jokes albeit with a smile.

The younger presenters like Ravi and Pradeep seem to be following on the footsteps of Guru Ali even as the female anchors play along, and this they do on their television shows as well. Several past instances point fingers at well-educated young and senior actors as well, who have been caught speaking such language that is in fact an inbred culture with Telugu film industry.

Nandamuri Balakrishna once famously said, “If I simply run behind the actresses, my fans will be disappointed. They like it when I either kiss the girl or make her pregnant.” The popular actor Nani told Rashi Khanna during the film, 'Hyper' promotions “You look beautiful. I used the word beautiful as it won’t be right to use any other word.” Dig into the archives and each and every film function will have such references, out of which just a handful catch social media attention, to be forgotten after a few days.

The problem is not Chalapathi Rao or Balakrishna the problem is an industry seeped in misogyny and sexism. And it is the younger actors, who instead of following this archaic tradition should bring in a change for better.

Nagarjuna Akkineni‏ @iamnagarjuna

I always respect women personally and in my films/I definitely do not agree wt Chalapati rao's derogatory comments/dinosaurs do not exist!!🙏

— Nagarjuna Akkineni (@iamnagarjuna) May 23, 2017

I always respect women personally and in my films/I definitely do not agree wt Chalapati rao's derogatory comments/dinosaurs do not exist!!

Rakul Preet‏ @Rakulpreet

Apologies 4 a late response 2 #ChalapathiRao comments!wish I understood d exact meanin of it then.I condemn it n my off stmnt wil b out soon

— Rakul Preet (@Rakulpreet) May 23, 2017

Apologies 4 a late response 2 #ChalapathiRao comments!wish I understood d exact meanin of it then.I condemn it n my off stmnt wil b out soon.

chaitanya akkineni @chay_akkineni

Respecting women is a way of life for me.The reactions shown on TV weren't for the statement made.Do I agree with it ?Absolutely NOT !

— chaitanya akkineni (@chay_akkineni) May 23, 2017

Respecting women is a way of life for me.The reactions shown on TV weren't for the statement made.Do I agree with it ?Absolutely NOT !

Kalyankrishna.dir‏ @kalyankrishna_k

Wt chalpati garu said was his own opinion, i won't agree wit it, but sorry to every one who got hurt, because it happend in our function

— Kalyankrishna.dir (@kalyankrishna_k) May 23, 2017

Wt chalpati garu said was his own opinion, i won't agree wit it, but sorry to every one who got hurt, because it happend in our function