Raveena’s Saree Day tweet is draped in communal colour
new delhi — Raveena Tandon has been till the recent past a hot Bollywood actress. Later, she became a producer, and a model. And now, she has also become a twitter celebrity, thanks to the saree.
Her Twitter profile ambitiously describes herself as “born to win many wars”. On Saturday, International Saree Day, she started one battle that she seems to have lost. Raveena in the course of the day posted a fetching picture of herself in a lovely saree and blouse along with a tweet. The actor shared the picture with a caption: “A saree day … will I be termed communal, Sanghi, bhakt, Hindutva icon? If I say I love wearing the saree and I think it’s the most elegant.”
Of late she had also become a bit of a BJP supporter, an option many Bollywood celebs perhaps can’t resist for obvious reasons. No Bollywood personality can go against the ruling establishment and hope to survive. A recent tweet of Raveena said: “Am ready to give the Modi govt a chance but as long as they rid themselves of the Togadia types, don’t stand by the Mandir thing either…” The Togadia she is referring to is a Hindu right-wing RSS leader. The mandir referred to is Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.
Her Saturday tweet could have been interpreted either way: as a tweet supporting the secular saree; or as an attempt at communalising saree as a traditional Hindu dress. In the event hundreds trolled her for the latter. And quite a few for both. Raveena later apologised: “Saree is a beautiful Elegant Indian Garment. My Tweet was NOT to communalise Saree. Was my fear of being trolled to say I love anything Indian.”
Whatever that meant, this tweet too was trolled by the liberals or “sickularists” as they are called in India: “Unnecessary politicisation of a piece of clothing & false sense of victimhood. A lot of women, inc me, wear sarees & are not termed anything,” said one scathing tweet.
There is a context for suspecting Raveena was batting for the Hindu right wing in a saree, because she
a saree day … will I be termed communal, Sanghi, bhakt, Hindutva icon? If I say I love wearing the saree and I think it’s the most elegant Raveena Tandon@TandonRaveena
has been off and on complimenting the BJP. She has been a self confessed supporter of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though a tweet of hers said recently she is not thinking of joining any party: “I AM NOT INTERESTED. Was offered (ticket/positions) by TMC. CONG, and BJP. Said No.”
A feminist whose politics has often been found confusing by her sisters of the Left said in Raveena’s defense: Raveena was having a dig at “trolls and slut-shamers who try to teach women about how to dress and call them names if they don’t oblige”.
This actually would mean that Raveena was tweeting against the
Saree is a beautiful elegant Indian Garment. My Tweet was noT to communalise Saree. Was my fear of being trolled to say I love anything Indian
Raveena Tandon@TandonRaveena
moral Hindu majority, which most critics believe is not the case. Her trolls cited another Raveena tweet to endorse their case: “Last I knew one was in a democracy and could practice your faith without being targeted and called names.”
This was a pointed reference to liberals attacking those Hindus who loudly proclaim, as does Arnab Goswamy every night on his channel, they are, in fact, Hindus and Nationalists. On the whole, the International Saree Day turned out to be anything but; it had become Raveena Tandon day. In the event Raveena who is in her 40’s may have done herself a favour, having become a national topic of discussion after a longish interval.
It also appeared from her sareeclad photograph she still looked great. A few saree modelling assignments might be on their way. Not to mention jewellery. Said one cynical tweeter, “that photograph was nothing but an act of self promotion. If you like sarees, just say so, why flash your picture and look so archly into the camera with enough jewellery on her for a wedding?”
Maybe. But the truth for the foreseeable future is that Raveena seems to have successfully communalised a fabric women — and some men — from all communities wear.