By Hindustan Times
The teaser of upcoming Bollywood movie Heroine has infuriated Dubai residents with a dialogue that degrades Bollywood actresses who visit the city.
A press conference scene from the trailer that came out last week showed actress Kareena Kapoor rebuking journalists.
“You people must be writing scripts. If a heroine buys a car, it’s given to her by a businessman, if she goes to LA, she’s getting cosmetic surgery done and, God forbid, if she goes to Dubai, you people make her a rate card,” Gulf News quoted her as saying within the movie.
Residents said that the suggestion that Bollywood actresses who visit Dubai finally end up as call girls with price tags was sickening.
“This is terrible. Bollywood has again tarnished just like Dubai by typecasting it because the hub of illegal and immoral activities,” popular radio jockey Kritika Rawat said.
“Let’s not forget that Dubai is home to various Bollywood stars. Dubai stands for progress and development and has made an enormous imprint at the world map.
“To use its name is the sort of callous manner shows the ignorance of the filmmaker and shouldn't be acceptable,” she said. Dubai-based TV personality Uma Ghosh Deshpande said that she couldn’t understand why Indian filmmakers were still obsessive about typecasts.
“This is 2012; gone are the times when Indians came to Dubai on a ferry to take odd jobs. During the last two decades, the Indian community has worked up the ranks and earned a name across various sectors, making their motherland proud,” she said.
“It’s high time Indian films stop associating Dubai with the underworld and prostitution. Their lopsided perception has to switch. Dubai is a vital marketplace for Bollywood that's why Indian films are routinely premiered here.
Kareena in Heroine
“Bollywood movies are loved by not only Indians but other communities including Emiratis too. Women are given utmost respect in Dubai. It’s an especially safe place for them. I wish the filmmaker had done a little analysis in regards to the city,” she said.
Ironically, Heroine have been directed and co-written by director Madhur Bhandarkar, who in 2010, was honoured in Dubai for his contribution to Indian cinema.
Indian techie and picture buff Sameer Haider said when fading actress Mahi Arora (played by Kareena Kapoor) addressed journalists within the film, she was not stating the views of the protagonist; instead she was lashing out at them for cooking up bogus stories — hence the sarcasm in her dialogue.
