Seeti Maar From Radhe Is A Sexist Cringefest We Didn't Need. Not Now, Not Ever

Just when one thought nothing could outdo the peculiarity of the Radhe trailer, along came prancing its first song: Seeti Maar. 

To mark what is gearing up to be Salman Khan's comeback to screens after two whole years, there seems to be an overdoing of everything: from Khan's usual brand of kookiness to his brand of cringe. And while it has brought 'bhai' loyalists to the edge of their seats with excitement, the rest of us are left sighing: why?

The song stars Khan and Disha Patani, who unsurprisingly, has way more visibility here than she does in the Radhe trailer; because she is not the pull of the movie, but only a piece to attract audiences towards the glitz and glamour part of it. She's there to sing and dance beside Khan since the track needs at least one good performer. When it comes to time on the script? The trailer suggests her role will be minimal because Radhe, being the testosterone fest it appears to be, is all Khan Khan Khan.

Seeti Maar Is The Worst Kind Of Whack

If at all one is able to wrap their head around and go beyond the truly surreal bits in Seeti Maar - people slipping their fingers into the waistbands of their trousers, people pulling their shirts up top to move like headless chickens, people rubbing their backsides together - the casual objectification glares through.

Between Khan lifting Patani like dumbbells and dragging her clinging body across the floor, the song reflects all that is and has been wrong with similar dance numbers in Bollywood. Where the woman is held up as a sliding, jiving dolled up vision in gold but is there to actually play arm-candy for the leading hero and eye-candy for the audience.

Is she there as anything more than a tool to be flung around? If the star attraction is the male lead, with the female lead spared only paltry attention, then wouldn't it be better for her not to be there at all? How long before our films understand that their questionable content is reinforcing the demand for such content? And until they take the effort to change the narrative, the audience will keep wagging their tongues for more?

Watch Seeti Maar ">here: 

Views expressed are the author's own.