We have had the Gen. X, and the Yuppies, and now we
the Page 3 people in India.
Interesting column on these Page 3 people.
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Feb. 12, 2005, 7:51PM
India's socialites, celebrities find new status on
'Page 3'
English-language gossip columns strike a chord with
country's rapidly rising middle class
By JOHN LANCASTER
Washington Post
NEW DELHI - They wear silk saris, well-cut Nehru
jackets and incandescent smiles. They are practiced in
the art of air-kissing and social banter.
They are often beautiful, usually rich and sometimes
genuinely talented.
They are India's new elite. They are India's "Page 3
people."
Named after the place where their parties and polo
matches are breathlessly chronicled in the lifestyle
sections of the English-language press, the Page 3
crowd is a broad category that mixes traditional
celebrities � Bollywood stars, cricket players,
literary figures � with new-money admen, fashion
designers, high-tech entrepreneurs and other
beneficiaries of India's growing integration with the
global economy.
Celebrity coverage is a relatively recent addition to
Indian newspapers that traditionally have tended
toward stodgy government news.
But it has proven a big hit with readers, reflecting
the soaring aspirations and rapid expansion of the
middle class.
It also provided grist for a popular new movie, Page
3.
The film spotlights the sometimes-jarring emergence of
Western-style celebrity culture in this conservative
nation of more than a billion people, many of whom
remain desperately poor.
Cynics and hypocrites
The plot centers on Madhavi Sharma, a conscientious
reporter who covers the Page 3 scene.
Initially bewitched by her glamorous subjects, Madhavi
comes to see them as cynics and hypocrites, such as
the wealthy businessman who turns out to be a
pedophile or the society maven who seeks out the
television cameras at a friend's funeral to promote
her new line of herbal cosmetics.
The movie mocks the social ambitions and crass
commercial motives of those who'll do anything to get
their pictures on Page 3.
Though well received by critics and audiences, the
film triggered a defensive reaction among some. "Page
3 people are certainly not artificial," art promoter
Kalyani Chawla told the Hindustan Times last week.
"They are busy, successful and good-looking people. I
run three businesses, am a single mother, work hard
and have a right to socialize."
Public relations consultant Rajiv Desai sees in the
phenomenon a healthy democratization of the Indian
elite.
"I celebrate the Page 3 culture because it's a thing
based on achievement," he said while attending a
recent Page 3 function at New Delhi's Oberoi Hotel.
Director Madhur Bhandarkar insisted his movie wasn't
meant to offend.
"I'm not making a judgment," he said by telephone from
Bombay, describing the movie as "a documentary,
realistic portrayal." He added, "I myself am on Page 3
so many times ... They are not creepy people."
Tame coverage
Celebrity coverage is still relatively tame by the
standards of American or British media, in part
because celebrities enjoy greater privacy protections
under Indian law.
In December, for example, India's supreme court opined
that the airing of a camera-phone video purportedly
showing two Bollywood stars locked in a steamy kiss �
something that would hardly have raised an eyebrow in
the West � "cannot be in the public good."
"We are way behind other countries when it comes to
paparazzi," said Kanika Gahlaut, a former Page 3
reporter who now writes for India Today, the country's
leading newsmagazine. "You can't write about a chief
minister's girlfriend."
On the other hand, she said, it is permissible to
"talk about his clothes," and that in itself is
something of a breakthrough.
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