Shilpa in a teacup

Nishi Malhotra London

Even as the careers of celebrities have crumbled, the fate of a successful show and channel jeopardised, and politicians have got involved because tabloid stories have spilled over onto the desks of foreign ministries, one thing is clear: the murky underbelly of British society stands exposed today because of what happened on (to quote British Labour MP Lord Meghnad Desai from a recent television discussion) “a third rate show watched by third rate people”.

Many in India view the brouhaha surrounding racist and bullying remarks directed at actress Shilpa Shetty on the Channel 4 Big Brother show in the UK as nothing more than a storm in a teacup. And it is true that in the Indian context, the phrase feeding frenzy was perhaps never more apt. The television media here did what TV does best when handed videos of high-voltage drama – played them over and over and over again till Shilpa-tormentor Jade Goody’s name was strung up on the same wall of villains as alleged Nithari killer Moninder Singh Pandher. In fact, it is unlikely that Indian television is done milking these videos yet; a fresh round will be replayed once Shilpa is out of Big Brother’s house and yet again when she returns to India. But to be fair to the Indian print media, it reacted far more cautiously to the controversy, and even redirected the fingers of those of our politicians who pointed at the British, inwards at themselves.

However, it is imperative for us to understand that racial discrimination is a very serious issue, especially in the context of globalisation, and that if it is being highlighted, even ‘hyped’ in Britain, only good can come of it. Shilpa is just a symbol – the real storm has been brewing underground for a long time. When 40,000 people call in to complain about racism on a TV show, it is, rightly, a big deal in Britain. 

Almost 10 per cent of the British population is minority ethnic and every four Britishers out of 50 are South Asian in origin. Almost all of them have faced racial discrimination in either minor (verbal) or major (assault) form sometime or the other in the course of their immigrant lives. Something about the attitude of a trio of white women towards Shilpa Shetty — call it culture clash or bullying or racism or plain bad behaviour — touched a chord with this community (my guess is 90 per cent of the phone-ins to Ofcom would have come from South Asians).

As I have trawled the blogs in cyberspace and read the comments posted by Asians living in UK, it is clear to me what that ‘something’ is.  Here’s a typical posting (there are literally hundreds like this on the net) that I came across on one site: “Watching Jade talk to Shilpa stirred up memories I though I had long forgotten. I used to cry on my way home from school after the bullying was done with… I could never dare to be as open about my culture as she (Shilpa) is. I admire her for that. All I did, day after day, was to try not to be Indian.”