A thing of beauty: Manjima Bhattacharjya's Mannequin: Working Women in India's Glamour Industry

Manjima Bhattacharjya’s new book provides a behind-the-scenes look at the world of glamour. 
Manjima Bhattacharjya
Manjima Bhattacharjya

Providing a behind the scenes look at the world of glamour, Manjima Bhattacharjya’s book, complete with ethnographic data, is an in depth analysis which traces the roots of the fashion business and its emergence as a full-fledged industry in India.

Speaking about what led her to focus on the fashion arena for her doctoral thesis which then was taken forward in the form of her latest non fiction work, Mannequin: Working Women in India's Glamour Industry, Manjima says, “I was actually looking at the new kinds of work drawing young women into their fold after globalisation in India – like export processing zones, and call centres. This was one of those things that was a big draw, but there was no study of it as a sociological phenomenon.”

The author shares that as a feminist activist she wanted to know the reasons why female models chose to be a part of the industry.

“Writing this book has made me more conscious of my own biases and made me face them. I have a much more nuanced understanding of debates on objectification and commodification of the body, and much more appreciation for the struggle Indian women face to have financial independence. It has made me realise that for women, the body is a resource and as feminists, we cannot ignore that,” she says.

<em>Mannequin: Working Women in India’s Glamour Industry</em>
Mannequin: Working Women in India’s Glamour Industry

So, how does her book manage to talk about and also in a way attempt to bridge the gap between feminism and fashion, two traditionally opposed ideological areas?

“I’ve attempted to really break this notional divide between “us” and “them”. By showing the elements of empowerment, negotiations and struggle of women in the modelling industry,” she says adding that, in their own ways, “Both feminism and fashion pose a challenge to this kind of violent social control over women’s bodies” making them allies in an increasingly intolerant world.  

Divided into five sections; Memory, Dreams, Field, Work, Change, the book charts the history of India’s glamour industry with an objective lens coupled with first hand accounts by women who, through the ages, have been a part of its journey. While talking about women who came from small towns and found a way to become independent through the world of fashion, doesn’t the narrative run the risk of being almost an apologia for capitalism and by extension consumerism?

“To the contrary, I think the vulnerability of the models as workers and their shaky “employment” situation – no contracts, no redressal mechanisms, you can lose your place in the industry overnight, having to defer to a multinational agency if you want protection – all highlight the problems of working within a global capitalist framework,” Manjima responds.

Ask her what’s next on her writing agenda and the author shares that she is working on a monograph exploring the landscapes of commercial sex in Mumbai and how they are changing, online and offline. It deals with “how the red light area of Mumbai is changing, and what the internet has done for commercial sexual transactions in the city.” 

Zubaan Books, INR495.

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