The Inspired Bride: A History Lesson - Kangana Ranaut for Hi! Blitz April 2010

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 | Posted by Asiya | Labels:
Working on some summer inspiration, but can't seem to get it to look just right, so in the meanwhile, let me fill in with a gorgeous photoshoot featuring Kangana Ranaut in Hi!Blitz Magazine April 2010.  She is featured as a variety of characters from India's folklore and hisotry.  It's amazing how much they've managed to transform her, to get an idea of how much, check out this picture of Kangana from the movie Tanu Weds Manu.  Can you even believe they are the same person?  I'm thinking she's just one of those actresses whose face is the perfect canvas to assume any persona.

She's actually been portrayed here some very remarkable women.  I've posted links to their stories after each image and I highly recommend you take a moment to read them.  Sixties feminism ain't got nothin on these sisters.

Kangana Ranaut as Jijabai Bhosle (Marathi Noblewoman, diplomat and political advisor during the Mughal Era).


Kagana Ranaut as Noor Jehan (prolific poet, songstress, actress and even, directress)


Kangana as Rani Lakshmi Bai (queen, revolutionary, soldier, master archer and swordswoman)


Kangana as Begum Hazrat Mahal (freedom fighter and queen-consort)

All Images via Kangana's blog, courtesty of Filmi Girl's Blog.



8 comments:

Curly Fry said...

She looks so beautiful! I really loved her role in Fashion as well, she really sizzled and I think she was much more convincing that the main actress of that movie.

6/15/11, 11:59 AM
Ashi said...

wow, i love these! so regal, and the stories behind these women are amazing.

6/15/11, 4:39 PM
Anonymous said...

It seems a tad paradoxical to essentially play dress up with some of history's greatest women. These women weren't universally respected because somebody decided to spend hours in hair and makeup to photograph them under studio lights, they lived their lives free from the subversive cloak of the beauty myth which these photographs clearly fall perpetuate. Kind of short-sighted and downright stupid, if you ask me.

6/18/11, 3:00 AM
Asiya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
6/18/11, 1:50 PM
Asiya said...

@Anon...as a general rule, i don't publish comments, but yours is an interesting one, even if you don't seem to have the nerve to put your name on it. :)

While it's true that the portraits are romanticized to some degree, they do channel the style and time period of the respective heroines in an accurate manner. Hi Blitz is a fashion and lifestyle magazine, not The National Geographic. The idea is to capture the spirit of these women in a fashion biopic, not accurately depict them through historical accounts or relics.

It's just a photo-shoot, not social commentary. If some girl today reads up on them after seeing them here or in the magazine, it's better than having them buried in some history book.

6/18/11, 2:12 PM
Saloni said...

There's my name, if you're interested. I'm happy to stand behind any comment I make so there's no need to be pedantic.

I'm not sure if you'll publish this. It's not my intention to perpetuate the discussion on what is quite obviously a Wedding blog.

Still, I do think as women we all have a responsibility to ensure that in an industry that almost specialises in infantilising women -- should we really be publishing photographs that detract from the true spirit of these women's endeavours?

Imagine if we dressed up the same woman to depict important public figures in India today? I'm sure we'd all agree that it would be sort of patronising and deprecatory. These women, thankfully, were able to break free of convention and embrace their independence (not for their beauty, mind you, but for their talent).

I urge you to read Naomi Woolf's The Beauty Myth. It might be easier for you to understand why reconstructions of historical figures like this, in any publication, are extremely damaging and subversive.

6/19/11, 1:51 AM
Asiya said...

Hi Saloni,
Thank you for leaving your comments, even if this is a wedding blog, I'm glad to have started a discussion.

I published these photographs because everywhere else I saw them, they were post without any information about the public figures in them, and after doing some research on my own, I realised how heroic these women were.

I chose to republish them with biographical information in the hopes that people who ordinarily might not consider reading them, would take a chance on discovering something valuable about our history as South Asian women.

South Asian girls in particular labour under the illusion of having no historical role models who counter the stereotype of the good indian wife.

As a wedding blog, my work is accessible to them, and as a fashion biopic, this post is also accessible.

I read Naomi Wolf's book years ago, when I was in my late teens. I find strict conformity to the tenets of feminist beauty ideals to be as confining as not. If you read it, you may also be aware that there are critics of her writings even under the feminist banner, and alternate points of view.

6/19/11, 5:28 AM
Suhas Maratha said...

Ek Dum Bogus.....She will never look like Indian Traditional women

6/20/12, 3:26 AM

Post a Comment

AAINA Bridal Beauty Blog hopes to foster a creative and supportive community for our readers and the vendors who work with us. To that end, we reserve the right to remove comments that are derogatory, hurtful, or do not contribute meaningfully to the conversation.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts with Thumbnails