Lucrative Lips

In Bollywood, where every ornamental size-zero heroine would like to prove she is more than just a product by taking on serious roles, actress Katrina Kaif seems to have no qualms about using her assets. If the number of advertisements that depend on her mouth is anything to go by, those luscious lips seem to be laughing all the way to the bank. In a Slice TV spot, she first bites her lip in anticipation of aamras, and then, when a few drops fall onto her lips, softly sucks them in. In a Titan Raga ad, since her hands are too busy with pottery, she strips her wrist of its watch using that same sinfully luscious mouth. And in a ChocOn advert, her Snow White avatar bites slowly into a bar of chocolate, enticing us to do likewise. One wonders if she should be admonished or applauded for flaunting what her mama gave her, making moolah along the way. Or are those evil advertisers to blame? Lord knows they have not redeemed themselves after the Ford fiasco. Sure, Ms Kaif is clever, and her career as an endorser has been on a roll ever since she first appeared in Slice’s wonder-arousing ‘Aam Sutra’ campaign some years ago. Sure, it is her right to have herself portrayed the way she likes. But Ms Kaif and the advertisers she works with should keep in mind that there is a thin line between being enterprising and setting feminism back a few hundred years. Next time, could we see her solving a really tough cryptic crossword and winning the chocolate as a reward? Or maybe reading a book while she sips Slice? Or checking her watch as she rushes to save the world from an alien attack or something? No? Well, you can’t blame us for wishful thinking.

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Aastha Atray Banan