Singer and television actor Shehnaaz Gill of Bigg Boss 13 fame has gone viral for a video which many are describing as “cringe”. In a day and age when cultural appropriation has become a much explored and repudiated phenomenon, the singer uploaded a video of herself dancing to a Bollywood song in Kashmir while dressed in “traditional” Kashmiri attire.
In the 45-second-long travel video, Gill documented her recent trip to Kashmir. Far from being a simple travelogue video, however, the video featured Gill in fancy-dress like attire, pumping stereotypes.
“When in Kashmir do it Their way! Had to dance on this epic song at the heaven on earth…#Kashmir” the actress wrote on Twitter as the caption to the video. In it, she can be seen dancing in the snow to the tune of the Hindi Bollywood song ‘Bhumro Bhumro’ from the 2000 film ‘Mission Kashmir’.
The video was shared on Twitter on February 6 and has since gone viral. While some praised the actress for the video, many slammed her for appropriating and even misrepresenting Kashmiri culture. A Twitter user from Kashmir commented, “Quite beautiful but this isn’t us . This doesn’t represent Kashmir the heaven on earth”. Yet another wondered, “What in the world does this have to do with Kashmir?” A third called it “cultural appropriation 101”.
Tourist arrivals in Jammu and Kashmir has declined since the revocation of the erstwhile state’s special status, Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel informed Parliament on Tuesday. In a written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha, he said 84,326 tourists visited Kashmir since August 5, 2019 while 87,94,837 visited Jammu and 1,00931 tourists visited Ladakh.
The total number of pilgrims/tourists who visited Jammu since August 2019 is 76,80,775. On August 5, 2019, the Centre revoked the special status, or limited autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir. ( PTI )
