CHOLI SLIP and the aftermath

Wardrobe malfunction has Minister Patil’s knickers in a twist
Namrata Sharma Zakaria
Posted online: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 at 0000 hrs
Fashion Morality cops on prowl again, Maharashtra Dy CM asks Mumbai police chief to probe

MUMBAI, APRIL 3
It hasn’t taken long for Mumbai’s Morality Brigade to begin marching down the political ramp. After model Carol Gracias’s choli slipped off, followed by Gauhar Khan’s malfunctioning zip at the Lakme Fashion week the next day, Mumbai’s usual suspects have come rushing in. And, once again, the Sena, BJP and the Congress are hand in hand.

In a bizarre order, Deputy Chief minister R R Patil—the same man who clamped down on all dance bars in Mumbai—has directed City Police Commissioner A N Roy to check all video clippings of the Lakme Fashion Show and investigate if the malfunction was a “deliberate, indecent act.’’

On March 29, Gracias, showcasing designer Bennu Sehgall’s creation, had to face the embarrassment of a halter slipping off. The next day, it was Mumbai designer Lascelles Symmons’s turn when his poor finishing caused Khan’s skirt to tear open.

An angry Gracias told The Indian Express she would never work with Sehgall again. “At the fittings, I had specifically asked her to tighten the strap of the halter but when I wore it before the show, I realised it wasn’t done. Sehgall doesn’t take her clothes seriously,” said Gracias. The day after, Sehgall called up Gracias and apologised. Symmons is also reported to have apologised to Khan.

End of matter? Forget it, Gracias figured in the legislature! “The issue of dresses falling off at the fashion show was discussed in the Legislative Council today. As per ruling of the chair, we (the government) are going to investigate the entire drama,’’ R R Patil told The Indian Express.

“Clippings of the incident will be examined to determine if it was an accident or was done deliberately. We will take action against the people involved and the fashion organisers if investigation proves it was a deliberate act,’’ he said. No, he didn’t want to ban fashion shows, said Patil, all he was concerned about was “maintenance of decency,’’ he said.

Patil’s decision comes after a question raised by a Shiv Sena MLC and leader of the Party Mahila wing, Neelam Gorhe, during Council proceedings today. “It (the Gracias accident) was an obscene act which was beamed again and again on TV channels. The government should take serious note of this,” Gorhe said.

She found support in BJP leader Nitin Gadkari who even asked the government to serve a criminal notice to news channels. ‘‘I have a young son at home who watches television. This is very bad influence on the children,’’ he said.

Encouraged by unstinted support from BJP and Congress, Gorhe promptly read out sections of the CrPC which prevent anyone from making an obscene presentation of a woman’s body and said what happened at the Lakme fashion week was illegal.

Shiv Sena Party chief Uddhav Thackeray said: ‘‘I have given all rights to the Party women wing to take action against anything that goes against the Party ideology. So our woman leader Gorhe raised this issue in the Legislative Council.’’

Designers and Lakme Fashion Week organisers are foxed. “What can we do?” says Anil Chopra, of Lakme. “We cannot interfere with the makers’ designs. That is not our domain.”

“This is clearly a mistake and should be understood as one,” said designer Narendra Kumar, who was witness to both malfunctions. “We don’t want everyone to be veiled, we are lucky to live in a free country.”

And, besides, what will the government do? “They will have to set up an entirely new department. And for what? To check on the quality of zippers?” said Kumar.