Have been criticised for broken marriage, but I don't let that affect me: Kanika Kapoor

New Delhi: Bollywood has often been targeted for its objectionable portrayal of women. Whether it is the yesteryear actresses Mandakini, Parveen Babi or the bikini-clad starlets from the recent times, it is always the woman who is treated as an object of sexual desire. From the way the sequences of female characters are picturised to the lyrics with double meanings that are specifically penned for them, it is both shocking and shameful to see how Bollywood continues to objectify them without thinking about its negative impact.

Singer Kanika Kapoor’s latest song featuring Sunny Leone in the avatar of a super girl from China may have gone viral, but one can't ignore the fact that it is laced with sexism.

While many might find the song a bit repulsive, singer Kanika defends her new song. “When my brother saw the video while it was still being edited, he uttered, ‘Hey Ram’! The next question that came from him was ‘Tum kitna ho iss mei?” she chuckled, adding, “But the apt answer to your question would be - to each his own. You can’t deny the fact that a lot of men and women love watching such songs. And yes, there would also be a section which might not. So it is very personal. At the end of the day – this is what sells – it is absolutely commercial.”

Even though the song features Kanika, she has been smart enough to keep herself out of the frame in the ‘objectionable’, ‘suggestive’ sequences. “I don’t think the video is only showing what a woman is perceived to be. It is just showing one facet, it is just showing one kind of a woman which is Sunny Leone! The reason why I didn’t play Sunny Leone in the song was because I can’t be her, just the way she can’t be Kanika Kapoor. Nonetheless, we are brilliant in what we are doing.”

Is she ready for extreme reactions that her new song is expected to spawn? “I have lived in London for several years and been exposed to a lot of international work which has included films with sequences featuring nude people snatching kisses. This might not be allowed in India as it considered vulgar. But this is because we live in a traditional country where people have different kind of views and starvation for different things too.”

When we asked Kanika about how she deals with criticism, she stressed on the need to be thick skinned. While many think it is tough to avoid feeling hurt, defensive, and annoyed while being mocked, Kanika says she has never felt the need to respond to it. “I have been criticized a lot – for broken marriage, for being a mother of three, for apparently being an auto-tuned singer. But I don’t let all of this affect me. I’m very thick-skinned and that’s the way to survive. We live in a hypocritical country where people talk about women empowerment but find it difficult to accept that a young, single mother can be successful too. They have to understand that she is successful because she kills herself and compromises to work hard.” Strong words these, Kanika!