Today I decided to hit up the Desi establishment. You know- to say hello to the uncles, ask them how business is going lately, get some mango lassi, and then have an internal battle with myself for about 40 minutes at the desi grocery store to not buy any mithai and go home empty handed.
I mosied on over to the music store to see if 
there was anything new. In the DVD section, I noticed that there was a plethora of religious animated movies that had an eery resemblence to Disney’s Prince of Egypt. One in particular caught my eye: V.J. Samanth’s Hanuman.
But the Hanuman featured on the front and back of the DVD case was not the one I was used to seeing. The Hanuman that I know is a wise, old, white bearded figure. In fact, my mother taught me to refer to him as Hanuman Dada, dada being the word that some Gujaratis use to call their grandfathers.
But lo and behold, here are our new and improved Hanumans:
Blue eyed, brown haired, fair skinned Baby Hanuman:
And the buffed up, young man Hanuman:
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LP:
Yes and no.
Re: women, yes, it's true that are encouraged and promoted to look like anorexic blond haired, blued eyed gore women.
But one look at Indian satellite channels tells a different story. Most of the women on famous Indian soap operas are actually corpeous and NOT stick thin. It's just hidden in the silk/chiffon salwar kameez and saris. And they are still fair skinned ("fair" in the South Asian way, not beige), brown eyes, and dark hair (sometimes with mehndi, sometimes with highlights. But blonde, no- I haven't seen any bleached blondes).
In Bollywood, the women are not so "skinny" in terms of the Western definition which is basically no hips, no love handles, nothing. Even Aish has a little bit of charbi on her hips, despite her green eyes and fair skin. But most women still distantly relate to older ideals of beauty. Look at Tooba Siddiqi over the border- for Lollywood, she is made out to represent the ideal beautiful Desi women. And think of the women who are considered as the all time Bollywood goddesses: Sri Devi, Madhuri Dixit, Nutan, Nargis. All were on the healthy and sometimes heavy side.
Re: metrosexual guys...yes, I've noticed the massive and conspicuous depilation that's been going on. And the buffed up trend too. But again, look at who's most famous: Shah Rukh Khan, who is CLEARLY not like Hrithik; Amitabh Bachchan, Sunil Shetty, etc.
Re: the Latin look, yes. That is apparent with Hrithik as well, but again, look at the other stars.
So I do think you are right; but I also think that we tend to notice the examples of a minority of the sampling. Yes, there are dudes that look "Latin", etc. There are actually Desi guys that look "Latin." As with the women. There actually are Desis who are blue/green eyed. To say that they don't look "Desi" is kind of spurious, since Desis like this actually exist. Problem is when the features and phenotypes of a minority of people are elevated to represent/shape/influence/construct the collective ideals of what a pleasing phenotype is, etc.
Well, it's not so much the blue eyes per se. Two things- I've met/know Desis that have blue and green eyes. One of my Punjabi "cousins" has green. And secondly, it struck me as a departure from the longer traditional northern and west Indian Hindu iconography made for mass consumption (calendars, etc). Yes, there is Krishna as blue, but general themes are that color most gods/goddesses are: fair skin with brown eyes and jet black hair.
What came to mind when I saw this DVD were several things. One, it seems to have taken on the trend of making religion "fun" for kids- make gods do super hero antics, look "cool," etc. But as usual, it's on a mass consumption level- buy these DVD's of super hero gods, and your kid will learn.
Secondly, the entire look of Hanuman is... occidental. I've met plenty of Indians, Pakistanis, and Afghans who are extremely fair. But it's a different skin tone of fair, not like white folks. You don't usually mistake a really fair Desi for a British person, for example. So coupled with the brown hair, and blue eyes, it just struck me as something western. Perhaps they wanted to make Hanuman "accessible?" Most people are used to seeing white folks on TV anyway. It's the empire of US pop culture (and to a lesser extent, western Europe). Maybe they had the Western market in mind, too (like Hindu converts). Or Desi diasporans living in the West- perhaps the parents may invite their kids' non Desi friends over, and someone just might put this DVD on!
I guess you could say that it's the hegemony of western ideals of "cute," "accessibility," consumption of religion, etc. And really, Hanuman isn't alone in this. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, et al are all depicted as European white folks. Euro-Mary has blond hair and blue eyes as does Jesus. But this family was not Euro white. They were probably dark. Nothing underlines this fact more so when 1) I saw the statute of the Madonna (Mary) in Sicily, and she looked Arab/Indian because Sicily has had many historical connections with Arabs and 2) images of Jesus, Mary, and the entire biblical famiglia in Ethiopia- one of the first of Christian Empires. In the iconography they are very dark toned, but with huge brown eyes and black hair (many of the features depicted actually remind me of some Palestinians I know, especially the eyes).
I have yet to see how the DVD's on the Sikh Gurus configure the Gurus...
LeftyProf:
Here we see Hrithik Roshan as Mr. Milano.
Ugh. Well, Hanuman has company, doesn't he....
Everytime I go back home for a visit, I am struck by just how much Indian celebrities, especially fashion models, are made to look blond, blue-eyed, and broomstick-thin. While women are looking more and more Caucasian, it is interesting to see how the Indian metrosexual male look seems distinctly Latin. Or is that just my imagination?
Well noted, DI. Seeing Hindu gods in the same palette as we usually see most Hindus has been an awkward proposition ever since a painter took a blue brush to Ram and Krishna; but this new stuff makes me sick. Blue eyes? Baby Hanuman looks like Diya Mirza blowing a chewing-gum bubble.
Completely Disgusting. Talk about internalizing Western notions of beauty, goodness, and strength. I don't even recognize him.
That was too, too funny, yaar.
Did you see how My Friend Ganesha was floating in the air, rotating, and beating up his opponent? That was the best part :)
There's also My Friend Ganesha, which is currently in theatres in India.
Oh my god, what the hell was that. I kept wondering where this all was going- "is this a pro-Hrithik propaganda? Is this some video that his fans made in his honor?" But no, it's like a 10 minute commercial- for a chocolate bar!
Okay, my naughty question:
Given a choice between the two, would you rather have Hindu images coopted by commercialized (racist) mainstream media or by Sangh?
(yes, i understand this works on the assumption that there are no other choices, which is stupid, because there are).
By Dalit nationalism! What do you say, Madurai Vivekam? Restitute Ravana!
Dr. Anony:
Neither one.
Nizam:
:)
It would be interesting to put together a book on iconography hailing from all regions... stuff that is done by people, not calendars (calendars being mass produced and all). How do regional, group, religious, and cultural nationalisms color their gods?
thought it was boom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am from the united kingdom, and i would like to say that this film was a great success, i think it was the most cutest and most educating film, i do not agree to the idea being that this cannot help little children learn about the almighty Lord Hanuman, as most children from the United Kingdom can tell you more knowledgable things about this film more than the children in india, and i do not enjoy listening to all your 'gobbledygook' about western countries, me being a brahmin, hindu can guarantee to you that there are indians (Hindus) with the western kind of skin tone, and me myself am very pale, so i would suggest for all you people who think that having a very fair skin tone to just keep that to your self, and is any other fair person finds out about your rude and disrespectful comments then there is a very high chance of all you guys being beat up! lol, so i just really think that you guys should keep all this to yourselves.