Nude photos of Bollywood sex symbol Ranveer Singh spark an investigation for indecent assault

You may not know, but these photos might make you want to do it. Ranveer Singh is establishing himself as a star in Bollywood. It is in this capacity that the pointed magazine Paper magazine published a series of photos of her, quite naked, on July 22, 2022. While part of the West was very euphoric, the reception of the photos was much more polarized in India.

Investigation into obscenities and indecent exposure of women

As noted The world, on July 26, the Mumbai police opened an outright investigation into obscenity and indecent assault on women. What may seem archaic stems from articles of law dating back to the Victorian era, among other conservative and cisteronormative legacies of colonization. It was the small NGO Shyam Mangaram Foundation, as well as the lawyer Vedika Chaubey, who filed the complaint.

Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh is becoming a social media meme. Some enjoy framing her naked body in a work of art, or on the contrary covering it up in a deliberately crude photomontage. An ironic collection of clothes was even organized to dress the actor, as illustrated by this TikTok of nearly 400,000 views.

The discomfort of subjecting men to their own masculine gaze

What is perhaps fundamentally disturbing is the way the actor has lent himself to the game of lewd poses that women most often submit to, according to the male gauze. Indeed, Ranveer Singh pays homage to an April 1972 photo series of the then sex symbol, American actor Burt Reynolds for Cosmopolitan.

In September 2018 with the magazine that had just undressed him, the American actor returned to this all-on fire photo shoot:

” [Helen Gurley Brown, la rédactrice-en-chef de Cosmopolitan à l’époque] they thought women had the same “visual appetites” as men, who looked at naked women Playboy since 1953. He wanted the same prerogative for women. I was flattered and intrigued. I wish I could say I wanted to show my support for women’s rights, but I thought it would be fun. “

If the very concept of male gauze wasn’t that popular back in the days of Burt Reynolds’ nude photos, it’s clear he’s still questioning himself in 2022, especially in a conservative country like India.

Ranveer Singh questions gender and nudity

Especially since Ranveer Singh is also known in India for his stylistic experiments, sometimes considered too flamboyant for a man in the eyes of the general Indian public. During his marriage to Deepika Padukone (recognized Indian actress, member of the jury of the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival), he even wore an anarkali, a long dress traditionally reserved for women.

If it therefore corresponds to the canons of Indian male beauty, Ranveer Singh still enjoys subverting them with his clothes, his attitude, and even the staging of his nudity. And this, in front of the lens of a male photographer, Ashish Shah, based on the idea of ​​an artistic director and stylist, Kshitij Kankaria. The actor can exhibit a happy heterosexual marriage, however, arouses a discomfort that he had however anticipated in the interview published by paper to accompany the photos:

” It is so easy for me to be physically naked, but, in some of my performances, I’ve been bloody naked. You can see my fucking soul. Indeed, this is being naked. I can be naked in front of a thousand people, I don’t care. It is they who are uncomfortable. “