Post Maha Kumbh, let’s hope Monalisa finds a fair footing in the age of Insta-virality, instead of being directed by a misogynistic script

Does something about Monalisa Bhosle’s videos from the Maha Kumbh and after—especially those that continue to flog the viral moment beyond its sell by date—make you cringe? If you feel that the dusky-skinned, amber-eyed girl wearing sleek blue eyeliner and maroon lipstick is both attractive and ordinary, it may be time to deconstruct the fuss.

The world’s largest religious gathering concluded yesterday (February 26). As many as 63 crore devotees attended it in 45 days according to government estimates. But the Pandora’s box filled with the odd to exceptional, mundane to mysterious stories which opened at the Maha Kumbh is far from shut. On one hand is the giant surge expected in the economy of Uttar Pradesh, the hosting state. On the other, is the saga of aspirations seeded by social narratives. There is also grief and recovery from accidents, apart from stampedes and deaths. The inclusion of technology as an altering force in how the Maha Kumbh was consumed across the world is certainly a first.

Riding on one of those accidental stories is Monalisa Bhosle of Indore. A young girl selling beads and strings, she was noticed by a passer-by who presumably got obsessed with her looks. He (don’t miss the gender) films her on his phone, zooming into her large eyes. Her, with a part-surprised, part self-conscious expression, is posted on social media. Well, where else? And we get a viral moment. What ostensibly started as an ode to beauty in the busyness of the madding crowd is now an inflated idea of fandom for a person who must still prove her merit—with all respect for her loveliness.

Why the Monalisa Instance is Complicated

Even if we discount some of the information as fake about her getting offers for modelling and acting, with some videos clearly AI generated, it is hard to make sense why a girl whose resume is labelled with one-word, “beauty,” be called a “sensation”. If new videos about her are to be believed, Monalisa was recently flown to inaugurate a jewellery showroom in Kerala. She is also being reportedly schooled in a place away from her home to pull her out of her self-confessed illiteracy and ready her for a big bad world. She now makes Reels about it. It will be no surprise to see her on the next season of Big Boss and other reality shows. I am not looking forward to her being interviewed by the caustically talented Salman Khan.

A forensic combing of all videos made about Monalisa circulating on Instagram and other platforms, including those made by local TV channels, show male interviewers chasing her. “Mein padhi likhi nahin hu,” (I am not literate), she was seen saying to those who stalked her. Her smile in this confessional simplicity was charming, but perhaps only for sections of menfolk, the kind easily attracted to girls without agency.

At the Kerala jewellery showroom opening, Monalisa is seen in a gaudy red ensemble with hair unattractively curled, dancing with 63-year-old Boby Chemmanur described as a businessman. She is seen greeting the crowds with a namaste and a wave, actions she might have rehearsed in her dreams of being a star someday.

Inspirational or Not?

Even so, why don’t we find the Monalisa fame story inspirational? Because it is essentially about the intrusive male gaze, about a young girl stalked by men at the most crowded event in the world. The fact that after some complaints of being harassed—not to police or law enforcement agencies at the Maha Kumbh but to TV channels and reporters—she is complicit in exploring the opportunities her “fame” can bring, makes it complicated. We have no right to rubbish it unless she does. If she is willing to be promoted as a “sensation”, one can hardly blame her given the queues of girls and boys from small and big Indian towns desperate for Bollywood breaks. These dreams are also symbolic of the “India Then is India Now” past-continuous optimism against all odds and the seduction of the Hindi film industry for the majority. It may be that Monalisa and her parents, see this storm of events as a shortcut to a Karan Johar film.

At the same time, if this case is whipped up as a model example of finding money and meaning primarily because of a girl’s loveliness, before she proves her other talents, India’s collectively evolving ‘Girls Will be Girls’ narrative may not digest it well. What will Gajagamini “Golu” Gupta, the female Bahubali of Mirzapur Season 3 played by Shweta Tripathi Sharma think? This is the age of ‘Ziddi Girls’, who may or may not be pretty. Fashion ramps now welcome scars and bodies on the mend, as perfection and plain beauty (ha, can beauty ever be plain…) is not a good fit for modern fashion. Our attention to personal appearance is no longer about Miss India pageants, it is a political idea. We need a bracing lack of euphemism to accept it.

Let’s hope Monalisa joins the girl gang instead of being scripted by a misogynistic view of her beauty.