From Suppression to Shamelessness: India's False Idea of Freedom
The Toxic teaser reiterates the same old trap: replacing rigid conservatism with a broken definition of freedom.
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The teaser for Toxic dropped a few days ago, and it’s filled with exactly what the Indian film industry has been obsessing over for the past few years: mindless “cool” violence and cheap sexualization. There are five prominent actresses cast in this project, yet the teaser gives absolutely zero context about their characters. Only the male lead gets to speak. We get a female voiceover talking about what "love" is—except it has nothing to do with love. The visuals are incredibly vulgar, and so is the narration.
Now, let me clarify: I don't have a problem with vulgarity or explicit content, as long as the artistic intent is right. But here, there is no intent other than attracting the masses to witness the close-ups of a female body in 4K resolution on a massive screen. At this point, there is no room left for doubt about what these filmmakers are trying to do. It’s glaringly obvious. They are trying to establish a new normal. Except these new normals are deeply warped.
Manufacturing a new normal
I often wonder why our movies repeat the exact same themes over and over again. Sure, I know it’s a cash grab: sex and violence sell tickets. But they are playing a much larger, more dangerous game here. They are rewriting our cultural dictionary. They are actively defining what it means to be "cool" and what brings "aura." According to them, being cool means having a thick beard, overgrown hair, blood smeared across your face, an assault rifle in your hand, a cigarette in your mouth, and a woman’s mouth in your… well IYKYK.
I want to pause and dissect that last aspect today: the objectification and sexualization of women being repackaged as the ultimate definition of being cool or liberal. This manipulation only works because society already provides fertile ground for it.
It’s a business of profitable hypocrisy
The irony is staggering. You will almost never see full artistic nudity in a mainstream Indian film. Look at global cinema: Steven Spielberg didn’t shy away from showing the raw nudity of Jewish women in Schindler’s List to expose the horrific cruelty of the Nazis. Look at a masterpiece like Requiem for a Dream, which uses explicit nudity to forcefully educate the youth on the devastating reality of drug addiction. In those films, the intent is pure.
By refusing to show the human body with that kind of artistic honesty, Indian filmmakers expose their own hypocrisy. For them, putting an actress in a bikini for a vulgar, objectifying dance number is totally acceptable. But the moment a scene requires genuine, educational nudity, they suddenly remember their “family values” and sanskaar. They operate on this bizarre logic that an item song won’t corrupt a child, but a raw, artistic scene will destroy society.
Even our censor board aligns with this hypocrisy. Hard-hitting, historically significant films like Punjab ‘95 are shelved or banned, and genuine Hollywood scenes are hacked away, while this mindless vulgarity gets a free pass.
Freedom without awareness is not freedom.
Consider the two extremes of our society. On one end, you have extreme conservatism, which is where the vast majority of the Indian population lies. It’s deeply rooted in our culture, and while I won’t dive into all the reasons why, we know how toxic it can get. Even talking about love can result in honor killings.
When our youth finally break out of this cage, they experience a sudden, intoxicating rush of freedom. The problem is that the pendulum swings violently to the exact opposite end of the spectrum: a superficial version of liberalism.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be liberal. The problem lies in how the youth choose to define it. They think, “Because I was never allowed to talk about love, sex, or drugs before, doing so openly makes me free.” They adopt these behaviors blindly just to show the world, “Look, we aren’t afraid anymore.” They copy Western culture without understanding its historical development or genuine intent. They mistake rebellion for liberation.
An illusion of empowerment
This distorted idea of freedom has contaminated the youth, and I’ll give you a direct example regarding women. Historically, throwing around vulgar, sexually explicit profanities has been a male trait. But today, many young women, riding the high of a fake version of gender equality, think, "Why shouldn't we abuse? Are we lesser than men?" Today’s girls use highly vulgar language, thinking it represents women's empowerment. It’s tragic because, in this rush to feel empowered, they don't realize they are degrading their own anatomy, insulting themselves, and disrespecting their mothers.
What surprises me the most is the contradiction embodied by the actresses themselves. They position themselves as symbols of women’s empowerment in interviews, yet they willingly sign up for films that shamelessly reduce them to nothing more than sexual objects. Certain directors cast them simply because they want to watch them get intimate on screen, and the actresses go along with it for the paycheck. Then, after their movie reveives backlash, someone like Janhvi Kapoor will openly admit, “Yeah, my character in my latest film was totally objectified.” Like what?!
We are living in an era of social media misinformation and intellectual laziness. We consume content rapidly, but we never pause to analyze the intent behind it. These filmmakers and actors are victims of this exact mindlessness, and they want to make you a victim too. The exploitation is bad enough, but the fact that they know exactly what they are doing and still choose to sell it to us as “cool” is the real tragedy.
Breaking down how the world manipulates our minds takes a serious amount of caffeine. If today's piece struck a chord, buy me a coffee to fuel the next deep dive.
Can you relate to me? I’d like to know your thoughts.
Fascinating and very well written. I agree with your analysis and the confused state of affairs in our culture.
But I am not sure what the solution to this problem is because for example every person who says no to exploitation there will be hundreds replacing them. To change culture is not easy.
Cheers and keep writing.