Maxim- India's hearing

Just last week I blogged about glossies like Maxim launching in India. Looks like I made the prediction a tad too early!

Situation

Khusboo, an Indian actress has filed a case against the magazine for publishing a faked photograph of her in underwear in an article titled, "Women you will never see in Maxim." Maxim apologized, but Khusboo refused to accept the apology.

In Khusboo's defense

In Hollywood, women like Khusboo would be applauded for their brutal honesty. In India, women like her who dare to express their honest opinions are shut. Last year she faced severe criticism and even demonstrations for saying no educated man should expect his wife to be a virgin. She offended an entire populace by making that remark and presumably, "went against the Tamil culture." Irrespective of the controversies surrounding her, she is much revered and even has temples in her name in South of India.
Maxim's joke was uncalled for -it definitely insults her integrity as a woman first and then as an actress. Although the Maxim editors are trying to settle this issue out of the court, Khusboo is vehement and intends to bring a stop to people who "treat woman like a commodity and exploit them as they please." This issue has deeper social implications. Women hold a very complex position in the social structure of an Indian family. It is easy to dismiss Khusboo's remarks as feminist but historically, Indian men haven't exactly demonstrated respect and equal opportunity for women. I will hastily add that this is slowly changing, so please don't clutter my comment-box with anti-feminist insults!

Khusboo, probably has based her comment on commoditization and exploitation on her perceived status of women in India. If so, she is rightfully justified.

In Maxim's defense.

Maxim is a lad-mag! It is the job of a lad-mag to poke fun at others. A lad-mag only publishes stuff that men are already thinking in their heads. Besides, Maxim's target audience is a population of educated, metro-sexual men who (Maxim hopes!) respect women. Really though, doesn't look like Maxim has much standing for itself as this point. Indian courts have been known to restrict channels from showing movies like Kill Bill --- the fact that the resolution to this will be in Maxim's favor is a huge doubt. Even if Maxim is pardoned this time, it will severely affect the snarky tone/vision of the magazine. What's Playboy without pictures of sexy women? What's Cosmo without articles instructing women how to please their men and what's maxim without its jokey-pokey finger!

Maxim will lose a part of its essential personality if it is further prohibited from pulling such pranks. It might as well become another Men's World or whatever that Indian men's magazine is called these days.

Concluding

Maxim, although a lad-mag with British sensibilities, should have studied the Indian market before publishing this brash one-page spread. (One page!?!) It was in poor taste. Maybe this is something Indian audiences aren't just ready for. It is difficult to promote the stuff Maxim stands for and not offend anyone at the same time. It is a very fine line and unless Maxim achieves the right balance, it is doomed before the next issue launches.

But it should be a good lesson to aspiring foreign magazines eager to make a quick buck in India. In pleasing a 100 Indians, you will almost always displease a 100 others! Reminds me of the time BMW wanted to set up a manufacturing plant in Kerala and the opposition party put forth demonstrations of anti-imperialism. BMW said, fuck this shit and went and put a plant in China. And now, they sell Made-in-China BMW's in India!

A very wise person once told me that for every 5 steps India takes forward, it takes 3 steps behind. Culture, progress, humor and politics are so impossibly meshed together that to separate one thread out of another will take a very fine craftsman and tremendous patience!!

Comments

[Alka]

Interesting read.You have provided good points from both parties. But Khusboo is right in filing a case against the magazine. If the photograph were authentic, it should not be published without her permission.

[Sunny]

BMW said, fuck this shit and went and put a plant in China. And now, they sell Made-in-China BMW's in India!

Haha! I love your choice of words. That's exactly how I would have written it too...

anyway, great post, came here through GVO.

[Kush Tandon]

I supported Kushboo 100% on her statement in India Today.

However, on this issue I support Maxim for two reasons: a) they clearly in the picture stated that it was fake (therefore, no slander), b) freedom to be a lad mag. I hate censorship except in very rare cases.

Very well written.

[Charu]

Jinal, very good post... clearly the fact that Maxim chose Khushboo to represent in their mag - as whatever - shows they have been observing the market and socio-political situation here in India... I wonder what happened to all the Khushboo bashers who earlier raised their voices because she had dared to question the "virtue" of the Indian/South Indian/Tamil woman... I am really glad Khushboo is not taking this shit...

[Aranyi]

Well, there was a reason they said (whether jokingly or not) Khushboo would never be featured in Maxim, wasn't there? She neither fits into what the Maxim man considers an ideal body type, nor would even agree, given the South Indian sensibility and damage to her reputation, whatever her personal feelings on this were.
Possibly the second reason also caused her to get mad? I know it would me... the possibility that i wasn't considered hot, whether I took up such an offer or not, based on whatever principles. It's apparently pretty prestigious to be featured in these men's mags...

[Aranyi]

Well, there was a reason they said (whether jokingly or not) Khushboo would never be featured in Maxim, wasn't there? She neither fits into what the Maxim man considers an ideal body type, nor would even agree, given the South Indian sensibility and damage to her reputation, whatever her personal feelings on this were.
Possibly the second reason also caused her to get mad? I know it would me... the possibility that i wasn't considered hot, whether I took up such an offer or not, based on whatever principles. It's apparently pretty prestigious to be featured in these men's mags...

[Jinal Shah]

Alka - They only put the photo of Khusboo's head! It's a tricky case...

Sunny - *grin* Do you remember me? I emailed you a couple years back... found you on the SASIALIT listerv. Btw, I'm not on it anymore. Too many pretentious phonies who can't loosen up! hehe. Thanks for visiting!

Kush - I feel sorry for Maxim! With all the hoopla of the launch, its shitty that they are already in a controversy

Charu - I think Maxim will have to get mild on its content if it has any hopes of surviving in India. Or they'll be slammed with libel and defamation cases every time their new issue releases.

Aranyi - Yea. I have no doubt about Khusboo never being featured in a lad-mag. Maybe there was a milder way of making fun of her.... But then again, its a lad mag!! Thats what lad mags do!

[santanu]

I don't quite see how allowing Maxim to take liberties with Khushboo's rights is something related to progress !
As Maxim's target readers are not the upholders of hidebound tamilain "traditions" but are in your words cosmopolitan urbane folks surely one expects them to be sensitive to one's individual rights ? Or is the elite urbane "educated " ( preferably with a call center acquired accent ) only interested in crude humour ?
But in an alternative universe which you don't inhabit they are considered as trash .
For many of you all this is passe but perhaps you should brush up on the misdeeds of tabloids such as "The Sun" to know some real damage jokes and fake "exposes" can do ? If we insist on the "boys will be boys " line things can get far worse. One has only to look to the British press to know that.
A pity indeed that its the Maxims and not the New Yorker for example ( both after all by Gora shahibs from U.S ) which sets the standards of our "cosmopolitan" culture and humor !

[Sunny]

Hi Jinal - I have to say I remember only vaguely because I have such a crappy memory. But I do remember exchanging a few emails with you... Yeah I left that too, just got too silly for me.. haha! How do you remember it's me though? What gave it away? I'm curious...

[SwB]

But tell me Jinal: Don't you think Maxim would have anticipated such a reaction from Khusbhoo? I can say this much: more men will be buying Maxim now than before.

[frankie b.]

wow; thanks for sharing! i remember flipping through maxim and seeing a similar thing, but it was a salute, to ellen degeneres (who i absolutely love...) it was her head on some supermodel's body. completely different scenario than the one with khushboo tho. i can understand both sides, and no one wants to compromise their integrity... maxim is a lad-mag as you put it, and i probably would have gotten a chuckle out of it in all honesty, but kudos to khushboo for demanding the respect she deserves and sticking to her beliefs! i enjoyed reading this :) |fb|

[Jinal Shah]

Santanu -I disagree. I think Maxim plays a role in setting the standards of our cosmopolitan cultures but is not alone responsible for creating it. You can't dispense the fact that Maxim does appeal to a certain kind of man -- (the 80,000 copies of the first issue were sold out within days in India and there were demands for more.) I do think that the same men that enjoy Maxim also enjoy reading BusinessWeek or watching Aaj Tak. There is no one psychological profile for such readers.

But yes, I do think Maxim stretched the joke a little too far esp. in its first issue.

Sunny- I'm still a subscriber to AIM and been a silent participant at Pickled Politics! :D

SwB - Maxim must have known it would displease her but I don't think they anticipated a court case! heh- yeah. Trust a controversy to increase sales for anything, be it a magazine or grade B actress's boobs!

Frankie B - Frankie, I honestly wonder if Khusboo would have taken it as a compliment had her photo been interposed with a super-models body. It's a very fine line...

[Srikumar]

There are any number of fake photographs of actresses on the net with webmasters even shamelessly claiming them to be real. Maybe Khusboo doesn't know yet or she'd probably go suing every fifteenth website on the net.

Maxim did nothing wrong, especially considering they marked it "100% Fake". Men imagine hot actresses in their underwear if not naked. Maxim only put that fantasy on paper.

Someone tell Khusboo to get on with her life. If she had just kept quiet, only the educated audience of Maxim would've known about the photo. Thanks to Khusboo herself, every strata of society knows about it.

[adi]

fun to see that a person who offended so many people gets offended by a similar issue. now khushboo sues them. somebody asked what the persons who protested khushboo's remarks are doing now?
i ask what the people who supported her are doing now?