Everyone will be cooped up for the next 20 days or so. You can’t go out and no one can come inside your home. Well, those are the rules. But, staying indoors doesn’t mean you could wash your hands of the daily chores — and Bollywood is realising this fast, or perhaps not.
Besides all the online games, group workouts and some ‘balcony photography’, there’s also real work to be done — the bathrooms need to be cleaned, walls and cupboards dusted, and floors swept and mopped. Then there are dishes, laundry and of course food.
Among those discovering household chores are Bollywood’s best. While Katrina Kaif is giving tutorials on how to do the dishes and mop the floor, Fatima Sana Sheikh has posted videos of herself putting the broomstick to work. Videos of Malaika Arora cooking vegetable stew and Kartik Aryan listening to Old Time Road while doing the dishes also hit the Internet. You must have figured this by now: The latest ‘in’ thing during quarantine, at least for these Bollywood celebs, is to shoot videos of doing daily chores.
TV actor Hina Khan featured in a video mopping the floor and telling us what a day in the life of a celebrity could look like when there isn’t anyone to do their chores for them. Thanks, Hina. We would have never known the hard work it takes to clean a house. And the sound effects just amplify your ‘misery’.
Giving her tough competition is Malaika Arora talking about her “yummy” Malabari vegetable stew, “which is good for the soul”. And what will she have with it? “Steamed rice and chickpea gluten free vegan bread,” which was made by her friend Ravina.
Also read: Shahid Kapoor, your muscles can wait. Let coronavirus pass before you hit the gym
The cool way to quarantine
Looks like self-quarantine has become quite a soapy affair for our celebs — first we saw the hand-washing tutorials and now some dishwashing ones. It’s time Bollywood gets a grip on itself.
When I sent Katrina Kaif’s jhadu tutorial to Maulida (our domestic worker), she was totally unimpressed and said: She’s doing it all wrong. Nothing’s going to get cleaned that way. When it comes to work ethics, Maulida is unbeatable. She means business and almost nothing can stop her.
A friend tells me that sweeping and mopping the floor is a “great quad workout and really strengthens the core”. Maybe, even celebs are trying to explore new fitness mantras.
Having washed dishes for over an hour, I can attest to the fact that it is a good arm workout as well.
So, maybe after the lockdown is over, jhadu, poncha can replace your ‘leg day’ and core exercises at the gym. It would definitely make for a better mirror (gym) selfie.
Also read: Even Neha Dhupia doesn’t get feminism. MTV Roadies proves it
Distorted Reality
From our social media feed to the news on television, the lockdown due to Covid-19 has exposed how many of us live in a bubble. While people are walking to their homes hundreds of kilometres away with no food to eat and barely any water to drink, others are making videos of cleaning their beautiful houses and their next home workout.
With the current crisis giving the well-off more opportunities to help those who cannot afford even a daily meal, perhaps this lockdown will force many to look beyond their privileged lives and understand that theirs is a distorted reality.
In Douglas Ward’s 1965 play A Day of Absence, the white residents of a fictional Southern Town find all the black people missing. Since they’re missing there’s no one to shine the shoes and feed the babies, and the municipality is in chaos. So desperate is the mayor of the town that he says he’ll kiss any part of a shoe if they all come back.
Maybe, when all of this is over, we’ll be reliving a page out of Turner’s book. Where all the poor would be gone (in their villages), while we would be left with our incompetence and privilege, begging them to come back.
Daily chores might become cool and we may restrain from taking workers in our homes for granted, but one can never deny that such duties involve a lot of hard work.
I’m thinking of something witty to say, but then I realise I don’t need to. I think the “chickpea gluten-free vegan bread” did the job for me.
There are serious questions about how the poor and underprivileged will survive this 21-day lockdown. But for social media users, all they will have from their Bollywood and TV stars at the end of it is a barrage of inane homemade videos. Sure, by then, many would have learnt the right way to sweep the floor or cook yummy Malabari curry. Perhaps, years later, we can expect to see a biopic of an actor quarantined and cleaning his/her fancy apartment — with background music of course — even as the world outside was fighting to survive.
Views are personal.
I lived through the lockdown and the cyclone mostly in Kolkata. We hire someone to clean the house and car. Since he was not coming I took the opportunity to sweep and mop, and I actually found it quite relaxing in a way. I would plug in my earphone and clean the floor, dust the Shelby and cupboards etc. Often I would scale my (almost) daily workout accordingly. It was however a welcome respite for someone who spends hours on a desk at an office job. I do acknowledge that celebs are camera whores however 🙂
I have been binge reading articles from the author in part amusement and part disdain.I noted that the Author is dripping with self loathing cynicism and tries to hide her low self esteem with the mask of intellectualism !! It’s nice this paper has so few readers!!
I have been binge reading articles from the author in part amusement and part disdain.I noted that the Author is dripping with self loathing cynicism and tries to hide her low self esteem with the mask of intellectualism !! It’s nice this paper has so few readers !!
With all due respect, your article does nothing but as usual shows the general cynicism and brings out the judgemental side in people, it also perpetuates border line hate and the politics as it is do enough of that. I think you need to be more open minded and not view a celebrity’s intent from just one narrow lens. I totally agree with one of the comments- You applaud Kartik Aryan when he puts up a video on ‘Corona’ but you tear him apart if he puts up something lighthearted. As a journalist, better you practice responsible journalism as well.
Agree with Shrutika Ruia. Being sad about other people doesn’t bring any good. Actors might be contributing more to the needy people than this biased author, who knows.
Well written. The articles tone of voice is perfect for showcasing dark humour in reality. Well done!
I really like the author’s dark humour. It’s truth but what a brilliant way to show us the mirror!
Hi!
I don’t mean to demean anybody or demean your article. But what the author has written totally does not make sense. It’s the actors choice that even in this time of struggle and self quarantine they are able to keep their followers and their fans engaged by posting fancy videos even though it’s if them doing household chores. Now, you don’t question when Kartik Aaryan posted a video trying to make his fans aware through the song of ” Corona mat Karo Na”. Even in these times they are trying to create a positive environment by asking the audience to deal with the situation in a positive manner. And as far as the logic of people walking hundreds of kilometres are concerned, what do you think the actors should do? Should they stop entertaining their audience because some labour has exhausted his savings and won’t be able to reach his village? Dont you think that is the responsibility of the government to make sure everybody gets enough to eat and has a shelter? And why don’t you question actors when they donate so much by running campaigns for distribution of masks and gloves to the needy and underprivileged.
In short you didn’t get any content to write that’s why you have written completely rubbish and nonsensical stuff.
This was not expected from the writers of ThePrint.