Sexist Much? Trolls Photoshop Clothes on Kiara Advani's Topless Calendar Shoot

Kiara Advani is back to being the buzz on the Internet, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

Advani's trailer for Netflix's film 'Guilty' released on Wednesday. What went viral, however, was not the trailer or her performance but an image (rather a morphed image) of the actress that coincidentally released on the same date.

The image, shot for Bollywood's famed photographer Dabboo Ratnani's signature annual calendar of stars, has Advani glistening topless behind what appears to be a giant taro leaf. Both the actress and photographer received compliments for the shot. We wish we could end the story here but alas. The image soon became the talk of town and left, it seems, little to sexist imaginations on social media that soon began to "clothe" the actress in their choice of imagined garb.

What followed can only be defined as an expression of toxic misogyny perpetuated by sexually frustrated and insecure trolls on the internet (read incels) who need to moral police women's bodies and their choices from the safety of anonymity in order to feel empowered over them. Photoshopped images of Advani with "clothes" went viral.

Firstly, the picture isn't obscene. Who decides what is obscene, anyway? One person's obscene is another person's art. If one doesn't like it, there is always a more palatable variety to move on to.

Secondly, why is it anyone's business what Kiara Advani chooses to do with her body? We repeat catchphrases like 'clothes don't determine character' and 'her body, her choice' but the narrative refuses to change. Why can't we let women and their bodies be?

Morphing clothes onto her picture shows the immaturity of Indians, who still cannot accept an independent woman comfortable in her skin. Right from the days when model Madhu Sapre was charged for indecency in court for posing nude with her then boyfriend Milind Soman for a shoe commercial in 1995 to Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea whose 1998 Calido inner-wear ad drew outrage from even women's rights organisations, moral policing has always been an Indian problem.

The irony though lies in the fact that the same men who want Advani and countless other women to cover up search for 'Kirana Advani hot pictures' and pass sleazy comments on "hourglass figures" of women. Yet, when the woman herself revels in her body, it's a problem, because hey, how did a women just claim autonomy for her skin? The fact that many of the trolls on Twitter made Kabir Singh jokes does little to salvage the rampant sexism.

Women in India are often considered equivalent to property. Take popular (and gross) one-liners like 'ladki khuli tijori hai' (women are like open lockers), easily passed off as humour in films, for instance, that perpetuate a disturbing concept of "women's modesty" and chastity that needs to be protected and worn as badge of honour, only to be given away to the right candidate (read husband or in this case Kabir Singh).

It's 2020 and Indians talk about giving equal position to women in finance, policy making and even national security. And yet a majority of Indians still cannot let women control their own bodies. Maybe it's time to start respecting women and their choices, instead of telling them what we feel its best for them. For the trolls who still feel differently, we'd just like to say, "Uncle, please sit."