MUMBAI: For some reason, our prime minister has recently been irresistible to item girls. Shouldn’t that make the right-wingers best friends with them, as they’re on the same side?
For the netas or the semi-political types, item girls are the quickest, easiest way to breaking news – you could basically say ‘Rakhi Sawant’ followed by ‘tea coffee detergent’, and everyone would still talk about you. We are reminded of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha is jumping on this well-oiled wagon in its quest to declare item-girling ‘illegal’, whatever that means, because otherwise, they’ll annihilate our culture.
The Times of India stated in an editorial, “The PM should be aware that at least some of these groups feel emboldened by the perception that there is now a government that is sympathetic to their viewpoint.” Slamming item girls keeps politicians in the news, but the reverse is equally applicable. For the item girl or filmi aspirant too, talking about a neta is a foolproof way to the national bulletin. And not just any neta, but the neta – Narendra Modi. For the past year, Modi fan-girling has become a very viable career option.
There’s something about Modi. Whether it’s our prime minister’s ostensibly-single status that’s attracting them in swarms, or whether netting several of Bollywood’s big fish on his side has inevitably drawn along the teeny ones, or simply the force of pure awesomeness, we have no idea. But Mallika Sherawat clearly did, when she crowned him the most eligible bachelor in the country last September, and told us, “The ideal bachelor for me is Narendra Modi. He’s smart, progressive and very often misunderstood like me.” So that her admiration for him reaches all quarters, including, hopefully, his own, she even crooned a one-minute Happy Birthday ‘Narinder Modijeee’ for an online video.
Shanti Dynamite wanted to be the BJP’s poster girl to bring votes for Modi, Rakhi wanted Modi as her New Year date, and claims she got a ‘warm welcome’ from him at an event, this ‘foreigner actress’ danced to achhe din aane waale hain in a video taken off later.
In the heat of campaigning, Meghna Patel (yes, yes, we’ll tell you who) decided the canvassing for the BJP’s PM candidate needed an extra push and was happy to help with a ‘lotus-inspired’ photoshoot, accompanied by an informative statement that read that “the glamorous diva was seen rising the temperature meter and has done an elegant look under the bed of flowers”. There wasn’t much under ‘the bed of flowers’, but that wasn’t distracting anyone from the main agenda.
“Narendra Modi is the man of today. He is the embodiment of valour who lives in the hearts of millions of people. People will vote for him. We all love you Mr Modi,” said Ms Patel, who, according to a blog, has done more than a thousand stage shows and worked in Hindi and Bhjopuri films like Hello Darling, Welcome, Raja Thakur and Hamar Gao Hamar Desh, and the TV show Kahaani Chandrakanta Ki. Not to be outdone by Mallika, Miss Patel, too, shot a video where she was performing to a song called ‘Namo’.