I first saw the billboards for Fashion Cares annual Aids fund rising fashion show at Yonge & Dundas billing the event as "Bollywood Cowboy" and thought how tacky. Now Bollywood is somewhat corny and cheesy, but it never gets to the crass level and that’s part of its appeal. Apparently, the ACT committee that organizes the event is in hot water with the local Hindu community according to this Toronto Star report.
In their zeal to cash in on the trendiness of all things Bollywood, organizers of Toronto's biggest fashion event have stepped into a cultural minefield, outraging thousands of South Asians worldwide. Hyped as a synergy of East and West — "Bollywood bling meets rhinestone cowboy" — the theme of this year's gala Fashion Cares has sparked an international protest among Hindus, who say the event appropriated their culture and was disrespectful to their religion.
About 5,000 people attended the annual fashion extravaganza organized by the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) to raise money for AIDS prevention and treatment, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Saturday. "The reaction is massive. It's not just locally people who are upset, it's internationally," said Tushar Unadkat, owner of a Toronto advertising agency. He said he has received thousands of emails from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and India since he posted a letter about the show on his website earlier this week.
The head of the Vishnu Hindu temple in Richmond Hill is organizing a protest to be staged in front of ACT offices. "It's totally despicable to present a nude exhibition of a goddess. Hindus are docile and laid-back people, and they (ACT) obviously took advantage of that, but we won't stand for this," said Dr. Budhendra Doobay, adding he wants a full public apology from ACT in the mainstream press.
ACT, which expects to raise more than $1 million from the event, has issued an apology on its website. "ACT regrets any offence that was caused. Our intention was to have a great event to raise money for a worthwhile cause," said Karim Karsan, an ACT spokesperson and board member. The cinematic genres of Bollywood and cowboy Westerns, both hot trends in fashion, inspired the theme, Karsan said.
"It didn't occur to us it would be offensive. ... I'm surprised it has blown up to this extent," he said, adding that ACT did not sanction the people dressed as gods and goddesses at the event, nor the distribution of postcards with Hindu deities.
Now the Flea weighs in here but I have a somewhat different take on it. To the local Hindu community of Toronto, I say: welcome and congratulations into making it into the mainstream of Canadian society where nothing is sacred and everything that passes into pop culture gets profaned. Protest all you want, but there’s a chair for you right beside the Christians and Jews. Personally, I hope to live to see the day in Canada where Fashion Cares decides to do 101 Nights with the Houris in Paradise and no one gets killed and the fatwas don’t get issued.
2 comments:
Kateland: your last statement reveals the problem. Fatwas do get issued when the Islamic religion is involved; as a result, the mainstream is very cautious not to offend 'Islamic sensitivities'. The Hindu community is peaceful and tolerant, and so it's 'open season on Hindus'. Basically, bad behaviour (fatwas, riots) ends up being rewarded, while practitioners of good behaviour are penalized.
Do you see the problem?
It is not just open season on Hindus, but on Christians and Jews as well. Twenty-five years ago, even in Toronto, modern pop culture would never have done anything with a Hindu theme, at that time in NA, Hinduism was not considered a mainstream religion here but a religion of the "other", and not only has Hinduism entered into the mainstream of religious society in North America, there is an cultural awareness of it from a cross section of modern Canadian society. The ACT committee would never have choosen "Bollywood" theme if no one outside the Indian community in Canada could connect with the theme. And as much as it offensive to have your religion treated without irreverence there is a seat at the table for Hindu's that never existed here before.
Perhaps, I can offer this short personal anedote to make my point. One son is learning to play the guitar, it was time a few months ago to buy him a better guitar. I shopped around to find a store that did not have staff that looked out of the "mainstream" as he easily disconnects from anyone he considers "weird". Tattoos, piercings, and weird clothes would not be an environment that he could relax enough in to play a guitar in public in. The first store that met my requirement was a Sikh run musical instruments store. He was perfectly comfortable there and felt very unthreatened by outwardly religiously observant Sikh's but Steve's music store was just too "weird" for him.
I am not insensitive to the those Hindu's who feel offended, I am just pointing out that as a follower of one of the other mainstream religions that is regularly lampooned, I know how you feel.
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