Rakhi Sawant threatens to go on a hunger strike

Rakhi Sawant has given the censor-board a week to explain what she considers their irrational decision to ban her song.

“I’ll wait for a week and then I go on a bhookh hartaal in front of the censor office,” warns Rakhi.

Rakhi Sawant ko gussa kyon aata hai? It’s the kameena ways of the moral police. The always-in-the-news actress is excessively angry with the censor board.

“Fearlessly I’ve sent a legal notice to the censor board. This is the first time something like this has happened. Others do chamchagiri of the censor board. Not me. I’m Rakhi Sawant. Main ishwar ki beti hoon. The censor board has done me injustice by deleting the word Kamini from my song. I won’t take it lying down. Dharmendra has been saying the word kaminey for years. Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Kaminey’ came, were the censors asleep? There’re heroines doing love-making scenes with their bare backs showing. Bhardwaj’s films invariably have characters mouthing maa-bahen galis. If Rakhi Sawant sings Kamini tera bhoot chad gaya re the censor board gets stung. The song has been produced by my company Faith Inc. and I’m being damaged.”

The argument that the word kamini is inappropriate on television holds no water for Rakhi. “Kyon? In the trailers of ‘Ishqiya’ they show Vidya Balan punch-drunk on television, and that too in a saree. Is that allowed in our culture? Ladkiyan Khule-aam choli utaar rahi hai. What was Choli ke peeche kya hai? What were they asking? We all know what’s behind the choli. If that can be air played for years why my song can’t be telecast?”

Rakhi then takes off on television serials. “Look at serials like Uttaran, Bairi Piya and Bandini. Young girls are being shown getting raped and forced to marry under-age. Women get married repeatedly, sometimes five times. Isn’t this against the Indian laws? Isn’t this against Indian culture? What is the censor board doing about such practices? Rakhi Sawant uses the word kamini and it becomes a dirty word. In serials we have men dragging their wives by their hair muttering. ‘Kamini main tujhe chodunga nahin.’ No one pays any attention. Why point a finger at me? Stop all the malpractice on television and I too will shut up. We live in a corrupt and hypocritical democracy where the institutions appointed to monitor morality are bribed. Producers go with bulging suitcases and get their films passed. Aisa nahin chalega.”
By Subhash K Jha