MaleStorm

See, the thing about being of a certain vintage is that you seem to have a better perspective about men... and women. Especially the kind of men who capture every girl’s fantasy. Ever since Ranveer Singh’s smouldering eyes stared right back at us for the posters of his upcoming film, I know the good-est girls have been harbouring the naughtiest kinda thoughts. Most of it unprintable. While I take my time to figure out if the kohl-lined eyes and the wild locks work for me as well, I was suddenly reminded of a similar effect that a certain Kabir Bedi had on the ladies of his generation some time in the mid Seventies. Honestly, I was still in my nappies at that time, but the image of a light-eyed Bedi dressed as a renegade Indian prince, Sandokan, was something that kept generations of young girls awake through the night. Togged up in a turban, kohl lined eyes and wild locks, he was a delectable stereotype in an Italian TV series.

That look, that image has been revisited by actors, filmmakers over the decades, with varying success. Which brings me back to my favourite topic — what is about the bad boys that makes them seem so incredibly attractive? I wonder if it is because the dark-eyed, long haired, scar-faced, ripped muscles that brings out the sexy in us? Does it recall our days as cavemen and women? When the testosterone driven hunters, gatherers went around wild and came home to a rousing welcome (pun intended)?

Ranveer Singh, bless his six packs, seems to bring out the beast and the best in all of us. Which is why he makes such a perfect poster boy for both condoms and instant noodles. He is also the perfect foil to the oh-so-classy Deepika Padukone who never has a strand out of place.

Kabir Bedi was perhaps the suave to Protima Bedi’s spunk so many decades ago. That model, dancer and free spirited woman was the Ranveer Singh of her generation, and so much more. Remember that time she ran naked along Juhu Beach for a film magazine?

Ranveer Singh, for all his well packaged audacity, is after all a product of the millennium. And no matter how hard he tries, he can never match the spontaneity of that one act of defiance, confidence and celebration of unfettered sexuality.

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