Posted:
Hello everyone, I am an American viewer who is new in this forum. I do not watch Big Boss 7, but I recently caught up with a couple of episodes because I was hearing a lot of buzz about a certain supermodel called Asif Azim. I saw him in American Vogue's website a few times and thought he was really remarkable. Later, I found out he was Bangladeshi and joining this reality show, but what I saw made me EMBARRASSED for Indian nationals. Hear me out. I am not blaming all Indians, I am talking about inmates who treated him unjustly and people who thought that was funny.
These so-called celebrities depicted Indians in a very bad light and a very unfair one. Indians should have been outraged. I am not of Indian heritage, but I know wonderful Indian people and they are not the petty sort of prejudiced people who make fun of another person's hardships. After all, Indians in America, Canada or the UK are the last people who will make fun of anyone's accent. They know first hand, HOW MUCH IT HURTS!!!!
I am not here to defend Asif Azim as a person. I don't know him. I am sure, like other humans, he had flaws that showed in the show too. Animals however, are sometimes the best judge of characters. As far as I saw, he was pretty forgiving of these petty "stars" or spawns of nepotism (ahem, Armaan, Tanisha, etc).
His treatment reminded me of how Shipa Shetty was treated in the English Bigg Boss. Unfortunately, because this guy was Bangladeshi, somehow it was okay to entertain a superiority complex against him. It was clear in how people reacted to his advice at his last appearance too. He was considered boring for not being petty like the non-entities there. What saddened me is that I did not see the same outrage from the public who went ra-ra for Shipa. What happened was not scripted. What these inmates were doing to Asif may not be called racism (same race), but it was certainly prejudiced and affected by a national superiority over Bangladesh and Bangladeshi nationals. Let me remind you from a foreigner's perspective, it may be a smaller, poorer, and more politically corrupt country, but it is a great one too. The same BENGALI Tagore who wrote India's National Anthem also penned Bangladesh's National Anthem. Nazrul made his home there. Yunus brought you micro-credit. The very YOUTUBE you are watching Bigg Boss repeats in...is a German-Bangladeshi boy's idea and creation (yes, his alone. The other two helped design it).
It is shameful that parts of the audience supported these kinds of bullying against the successful model (or even just a human) simply because he spoke Bengali and not "good Hindi." I don't speak "good Hindi," but I speak it because I am a polyglot, does that make me stupid compared to the likes of Armaan and Andy? I am pretty sure I could take those two on at the same time. You guys think you are all that because you speak better Hindi than Asif? Here is my OPEN INVITATION to Armaan, Andy, Guhar, Pritusha and anyone else in Big Boss 7 who bullied Asif, come talk to me about languages. If I don't take you DOWN in 7 languages and 7 subjects, I will relearn all of them. Your families should be ashamed of you. Who the hell do you think you are?
Getting back to the point. It seems these Bigg Boss inmates, like much of Bollywood, can only treat the RIGHT KIND OF FOREIGNER with respect. If a Katrina Kaif cannot speak Hindi, it is great and she can look forward to a lucrative career in HINDI cinema SPEAKING HINDI with time to learn it on Salman's watch (the host!). A Hollywood flop like Pamela Anderson will be embarrassingly fawned over in Bigg Boss 6. She will be looked at with awe as she struggles with Hindi in Indian Bigg Boss where "knowledge of Hindi is important." An Anglo foreigner like Eli can easily expect translations, but if a Bengali-speaking BROWN foreigner cannot speak Hindi well, he is to be made fun of. Do these ignorants know how racist that is even against Eli? Let me ask, does this Armaan or what's-his-name, Andy, have the capability of speaking Bengali by going to a Bangladeshi reality show? Some may say Hindi is very important for this show, but then, why would they be angry if Shipa is made fun of in the UK for speaking English with an Indian accent? Fair's fair.
Bollywood is open, but only to Western (often white) foreigners because of the great Anglophile complex. Let's face it. Bollywood opens its arms and more for a Katrina, Nargis, another Nargis, and even po*n star Sunny Leone and their language barrier is CUTE because they are "superior kinds" of foreigners aka white skin. But an international supermodel like Asif can be hated on because he comes from a poorer country like Bangladesh. What a shame because I see Indian stars like Priyanka, Mallika, Freida quite desperate to be accepted in my country, USA (Hollywood). They want to be accepted for their "exotic" ways. Freida went far enough to awkwardly fake an English accent to be accepted. Kudos to them to having ambition. But their industry is not treating foreigners to Bollywood well, so why should we accept them? Even Katrina can sometimes be made fun of for not speaking Hindi on every off-screen occasion. So does that mean, I can make fun of Bollywood stars (except SRK, really) for their weak grammar in English? No. Because everyone should be treated with RESPECT despite their language barriers. We do not roll around on the floor when we hear an Indian accent even if it sounds unusual to our ears.
I am an outsider. I hope I did not offend, but I had to say what I saw was unjust. Asif Azim is the only celeb I heard of in the Bigg Boss house of non-entities and wannabe celebs. If I can hear of him some 12-14,000 miles away, I would say he was the only one who did not have a fledgling career in that house. He featured in American Vogue. How many in that house did? I wish him a long and happy career. Kudos to India's fashion designers for not being prejudiced and giving him a chance. And if Bollywood is not open to you Asif, try Hollywood. You certainly have the looks for it. And we will probably be kinder.
Mary.
Please respond to this post and spread the awareness against such prejudice.
EDIT: I would like to thank everyone who compelled an answer from me, esp. by misunderstanding my intentions. Today I became a ROCKER thanks to all of you! Dancing the happy jig 🥳 Started in IF in 2003 and three accounts later little Mary is a rocker!
These so-called celebrities depicted Indians in a very bad light and a very unfair one. Indians should have been outraged. I am not of Indian heritage, but I know wonderful Indian people and they are not the petty sort of prejudiced people who make fun of another person's hardships. After all, Indians in America, Canada or the UK are the last people who will make fun of anyone's accent. They know first hand, HOW MUCH IT HURTS!!!!
I am not here to defend Asif Azim as a person. I don't know him. I am sure, like other humans, he had flaws that showed in the show too. Animals however, are sometimes the best judge of characters. As far as I saw, he was pretty forgiving of these petty "stars" or spawns of nepotism (ahem, Armaan, Tanisha, etc).
His treatment reminded me of how Shipa Shetty was treated in the English Bigg Boss. Unfortunately, because this guy was Bangladeshi, somehow it was okay to entertain a superiority complex against him. It was clear in how people reacted to his advice at his last appearance too. He was considered boring for not being petty like the non-entities there. What saddened me is that I did not see the same outrage from the public who went ra-ra for Shipa. What happened was not scripted. What these inmates were doing to Asif may not be called racism (same race), but it was certainly prejudiced and affected by a national superiority over Bangladesh and Bangladeshi nationals. Let me remind you from a foreigner's perspective, it may be a smaller, poorer, and more politically corrupt country, but it is a great one too. The same BENGALI Tagore who wrote India's National Anthem also penned Bangladesh's National Anthem. Nazrul made his home there. Yunus brought you micro-credit. The very YOUTUBE you are watching Bigg Boss repeats in...is a German-Bangladeshi boy's idea and creation (yes, his alone. The other two helped design it).
It is shameful that parts of the audience supported these kinds of bullying against the successful model (or even just a human) simply because he spoke Bengali and not "good Hindi." I don't speak "good Hindi," but I speak it because I am a polyglot, does that make me stupid compared to the likes of Armaan and Andy? I am pretty sure I could take those two on at the same time. You guys think you are all that because you speak better Hindi than Asif? Here is my OPEN INVITATION to Armaan, Andy, Guhar, Pritusha and anyone else in Big Boss 7 who bullied Asif, come talk to me about languages. If I don't take you DOWN in 7 languages and 7 subjects, I will relearn all of them. Your families should be ashamed of you. Who the hell do you think you are?
Getting back to the point. It seems these Bigg Boss inmates, like much of Bollywood, can only treat the RIGHT KIND OF FOREIGNER with respect. If a Katrina Kaif cannot speak Hindi, it is great and she can look forward to a lucrative career in HINDI cinema SPEAKING HINDI with time to learn it on Salman's watch (the host!). A Hollywood flop like Pamela Anderson will be embarrassingly fawned over in Bigg Boss 6. She will be looked at with awe as she struggles with Hindi in Indian Bigg Boss where "knowledge of Hindi is important." An Anglo foreigner like Eli can easily expect translations, but if a Bengali-speaking BROWN foreigner cannot speak Hindi well, he is to be made fun of. Do these ignorants know how racist that is even against Eli? Let me ask, does this Armaan or what's-his-name, Andy, have the capability of speaking Bengali by going to a Bangladeshi reality show? Some may say Hindi is very important for this show, but then, why would they be angry if Shipa is made fun of in the UK for speaking English with an Indian accent? Fair's fair.
Bollywood is open, but only to Western (often white) foreigners because of the great Anglophile complex. Let's face it. Bollywood opens its arms and more for a Katrina, Nargis, another Nargis, and even po*n star Sunny Leone and their language barrier is CUTE because they are "superior kinds" of foreigners aka white skin. But an international supermodel like Asif can be hated on because he comes from a poorer country like Bangladesh. What a shame because I see Indian stars like Priyanka, Mallika, Freida quite desperate to be accepted in my country, USA (Hollywood). They want to be accepted for their "exotic" ways. Freida went far enough to awkwardly fake an English accent to be accepted. Kudos to them to having ambition. But their industry is not treating foreigners to Bollywood well, so why should we accept them? Even Katrina can sometimes be made fun of for not speaking Hindi on every off-screen occasion. So does that mean, I can make fun of Bollywood stars (except SRK, really) for their weak grammar in English? No. Because everyone should be treated with RESPECT despite their language barriers. We do not roll around on the floor when we hear an Indian accent even if it sounds unusual to our ears.
I am an outsider. I hope I did not offend, but I had to say what I saw was unjust. Asif Azim is the only celeb I heard of in the Bigg Boss house of non-entities and wannabe celebs. If I can hear of him some 12-14,000 miles away, I would say he was the only one who did not have a fledgling career in that house. He featured in American Vogue. How many in that house did? I wish him a long and happy career. Kudos to India's fashion designers for not being prejudiced and giving him a chance. And if Bollywood is not open to you Asif, try Hollywood. You certainly have the looks for it. And we will probably be kinder.
Mary.
Please respond to this post and spread the awareness against such prejudice.
EDIT: I would like to thank everyone who compelled an answer from me, esp. by misunderstanding my intentions. Today I became a ROCKER thanks to all of you! Dancing the happy jig 🥳 Started in IF in 2003 and three accounts later little Mary is a rocker!
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