The Earth is round and so am I

Sarika Sharma

Sudha Pillai doesn’t believe in size zero. She is not one either. She also never saw a problem with her body. However, that was until one day a friend told her that instead of meeting international clients face-to-face, she should show them her work first. “Because once they see your work, they cannot say no to you, for, it is so damn good,” he said, leaving her stunned. Like always, the artist took to her canvas and began sketching. The result was Fat-Bottomed Ladies, her latest series.

Sudha laughs as she says she is still friends with the guy. She realised that he, who has lived and worked abroad all his life, was making this observation based on ground reality. “Let’s face it, anywhere in the world, and more so in India, first impressions always count. And strangely, there is a perception that if you are fair, slim and young, then you are “capable”, “intelligent”, “highly productive” and “an asset”. That’s utter nonsense. I am in my 40s and I know that I can do so many things that some of the slim, fair, 20-year-olds cannot,” says this former journalist.

So, Sudha’s women wear bikinis and dresses. They are also leading ladies. “If you notice, even when a movie is heroine-oriented and shows the protagonist as a strong character, she is expected to fit a stereotype — tall, slim and fair. If the women are fat (I am not politically right here by referring to them as plus-size), they are usually relegated to playing a comic sidekick. Even if she is a lead, it will be a comedy film (as if fat women can’t be serious, can’t kick butt or can’t be a corporate head or sexy). So, I decided to make my reimagined heroines fat-bottomed, and they rocked!” she says.

Take a look at Sudha’s women and you realise they are people comfortable in their skin. They are happy women. And, yes, they have a life. That was exactly Sudha’s idea. She says that while fitness is a good thing, body shaming is something totally different. “People’s perception that somebody is overweight because they are lazy or eat too much gets my goat. There could be many reasons why someone is overweight. You do not know their struggles or efforts. You have no right to judge.”

‘Perfect’ too is subjective, and one of the reasons defining it could be the times we live in. “There was a time when Rubenesque women were considered ideal, then came the Twiggy-types and then the athletic body types, slim, curvaceous and so on. And when something does not fit into the box or the mould of a particular time, it becomes an issue,” points the artist, who set out to question this notion with her sketches.

While Sudha doesn’t work with models, women have come to her sharing that they identified with her creations. “People usually say, ‘Oh my God, that is so me.’ Or ‘I think you have painted me.’ Some people want to buy it and hang it on their walls because it makes them feel happy.” Sudha knows where this comes from. She says: “When we laugh at ourselves and along with others, we tend to look at an issue through the right prism.” And that prism doesn’t bother about sizes.