Boobs Donation Drive: Rakhi Sawant and her rare brand of philanthropy
"In a world full of Kardashians, be an Audrey," a post, with the iconic picture of Audrey Hepburn, holding her slender cigarette holder close to her lips, popped up on my newsfeed. Cheeky, I thought, liked, and shared the said photo, and scrolled down. And there it was, Rakhi Sawant's latest video, a short clip from a press conference she had held in Mumbai recently.
Before you judge me on the sheer variety of things that make up my social media feed, let me tell you that's probably exactly what Rakhi believes, with a slight alteration — in a world full of Kardashians, be a Rakhi.
And boy, can she be herself.
Let's take the ongoing Tanushree Dutta-Nana Patekar verbal war, for instance. While some Bollywood stars have come out in support — Priyanka Chopra, Rasika Duggal, Renuka Sahani — of Tanushree, others have tactfully refrained from taking sides — Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. But then, there is Rakhi, who invites the media to a press conference, promising 'the truth', but ends up adding a new subplot to the narrative by accusing Tanushree of doping.
The thread that connects Rakhi to the Tanushree-Nana web is the fact that she had replaced Tanushree in the infamous song, that, upon her own admission, she doesn't even like herself. The song that is at the centre of the entire narrative, the song with those particular moves that had left Tanushree uncomfortable.
When Tanushree walked out of the sets, Ganesh Acharya summoned Rakhi to save the producers from incurring a loss, and the mighty Rakhi flew in with her super dance moves to save the day. But not before she managed to get her hands on some goss from Tanushree's make-up artist about her excessive doping. Apparently that's why the shoot was stalled, not because of a possible sexual harassment suit.
Her words, not mine.
The proof lies in the pudding.
Rakhi's saviour instincts are not restricted to hapless producers who have their precious bucks stuck. She's also taken it upon herself to leave the world a better place through organ donation. Except, she's not really donating an organ, but more like some fat cells, or, in her case, silicon. Of all the bizarre things that the Internet might spew up every day, Rakhi's video, declaring she wants to donate her boobs, ought to be the best, simply by virtue of her earnestness. How can you not love someone with such a cute sense of self-deprecating humour?
And that's where you're wrong. There's nothing humorous or self-deprecating in this. Rakhi actually, genuinely means every word she speaks. How else would you justify her obsession with Mike Tyson, who she fondly refers to as 'Mikey'? A lovelorn Rakhi is left sleepless, restless and shitless, and all she wants is for Mikey to rescue her from this. Not even kidding.
Of course, Rakhi has no filter, whatsoever. And you can either love her or hate her for it.
But I dare you to ignore her.
Her sense of self worth might seem like wishful thinking or a kind of self-complacency on her part, but it also exudes sheer confidence. Confidence that her fashion game is on point even as she walked around (almost) dressed as a green chilli, a political party she was once associated with. Or when she wore her heart on her sleeve and Narendra Modi on her torso. Confidence that she is superior to the likes of Sunny Leone who have nothing but cheap thrills to offer. Confidence that she is the best.
So, yeah, in a world of Kardashians, be a Rakhi.
Not really, but you know what I mean.