Being and feeling fat are not same – why Bollywood just can’t get ‘fatso’ formula correct

Question is who decides these impossible and unreal standards, anyway? And, if fashion and lifestyle magazines want to really uncover the scathing lid on fat shaming and be trailblazers in body positivity, then why call the issue ‘Body Issue’ – in the first place? A look at India’s arranged marriage market One look at India’s arranged marriage market blows the lid on this perverse fixation on physical perfection – the ‘slim/tall/fair,’ pressure to conform – a February 2021 news report in Indiatimes references 1,057 women surveyed for ‘India’s Beauty Test,’ a study commissioned by Dove and conducted in 17 cities across India that reveals 94% of women have been asked to work on their appearance to bag a groom. The lowest common denominator being noir films like Ghoomketu where Nawazuddin Siddiqui marries an overweight woman, thanks to an accident – referred to as ‘terrible’ fate, whereby the actor refuses to look at the woman’s face for ten days post the nuptials and is even shown afraid on the proverbial suhaag raat – the character’s face is finally revealed only when she transforms into a skinny woman and then, almost like a fairy-tale, Nawazuddin falls in love and is almost miraculously attracted. Also, ever wondered why almost every so-called ‘healthy heroine,’ in B-town slims down with a vengeance at breakneck speed to survive the skinny standards associated with being a sex symbol – which is what the average heroine in India is, in an industry where stereotyping women like jars of imported mayonnaise with expiry dates runs aplenty – where a woman post marriage and kids must fit into the ‘yummy mummy’ category – which also means looking thin and thereby reversing the proverbial seven signs of ageing, stretch marks and post pregnancy weight gains.