The Virgin Vibes Of The Vibrator On Indian Screens At Last!

This has been one hot summer! In June alone, we have seen the release of two movies, which feature the elusive, much talked about and probably the new symbol of liberated women’s sexuality.

Women (and the adventurous lot, regardless of sexual identity or orientation) who are not afraid to take matters in their own hands (ahem! literally and figuratively) choose to use… a Vibrator, a sex toy, for self-pleasure.

The vibrator’s virgin voyage on the silver screen was courtesy, Veere di Wedding (VDW), a much hyped chick flick. One of the film’s claims to fame is THE scene involving the vibrator which has been discussed the most, overtaking the return of the lead actress Kareena Kapoor Khan to the screen with a svelte figure post pregnancy or the real-life wedding of Sonam Kapoor, one of the lead actors.

And The Wanton Woman is here to stay.

Another offering on Netflix, Lust Stories, a collection of four short films revolves around the theme of love, sex and relationships in modern India. Directed by four directors, the last short film is by Karan Johar (KJO for the uninitiated), who surprisingly manages to get it right… well, mostly about women, their lust, desires and pleasure. But KJo being KJo couldn’t resist a bit (an understatement) of drama and a climax of cinematic proportion (pun intended tongue firmly in cheek…I was even toying with the word ‘gargantuan’).

The actress rides the peak of her orgasm with her…vibrator (what else!) to the sound of ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum’, K Jo’s iconic song. Truly it was khushi of epic proportions that was up till now unknown to the woman protagonist. This is the second foray of the vibe on the silver screen, the source of happiness for many women. Those who experienced it first-hand (ahem!) and others … purely in anticipation.

In this short film, the vibe makes an appearance in the hands of not one but two women. Amazing right! The characterisation of female characters is not path breaking but they keep the story going on. The first woman is an older woman, confident and unapologetic about her sexuality. She knows how to handle male attention, has sexual fantasies and acts on them to make them come true.

The venerable vibrator makes an appearance in the library. Surrounded by books, in silence, in a quiet corner, behind doors with glass panes, the older woman, dressed to perfection (and seduction) in a saree cranks up the vibrator to its maximum setting. There she lives out one of her fantasies, back arching with pleasure, hand with glass bangles reaching out to clutch the papers on the table, while a couple of colleagues (a man and the other younger woman) peek at her. She doesn’t go unpunished; the device is taken away by ‘authority’. This gives the younger woman the opportunity to lay her hands (woohoo!) on the Vibe.

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The younger woman is the girl next door, who has led a closeted life, with parents controlling every aspect of her life. Freedom to have fun is promised to her after marriage with her husband. Alas, the ‘fun’ after the marriage leaves her wanting… a lot. She tries to talk to her husband, who has had a similar upbringing with little or no contact with women. She gives an example from a porn video. She says to him that the actors in the porn film get excited together, and she wanted to experience that with him. The husband naively brushes it aside saying that concentrating on two things at the same time is very difficult. (Is it a classic case of not being able to multitask? I have no reason to generalise….wink wink).

The long and short of it is that the younger woman rescues the vibrator and her sexuality from its narrow confines. In return, she has her first rocking, rollicking orgasm of epic proportions; in her living room in front of her husband and extended family.

Acts of such proportions can’t go unpunished; after all woman’s sexuality bursts out of the bedroom into the living room, directly in the public eye. That is neither palatable nor acceptable. How dare the younger woman parade her sexuality visibly? How does she dare to have desires? How dare she want fulfilment? For women don’t have such desires, they only desire to have children.

I wish Lust Stories is released in theatres someday so that more people can watch it. Such characters and films are needed to normalize women as sexual beings, with desires for pleasure at par with men, with an equal space for expression, experimentation and discoveries. At long last, women will know that their bodies and the pleasure they can derive from them are nothing to be ashamed of. Long live the Vibe because HER pleasure matters!

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