Half his face in the shadow, Ranveer Singh, one of Bollywood's most prominent celebrities, stares into the camera, his deep gaze catching the viewer's attention. Sitting on a carpet completely naked, his body is exhibited against a gray background, without ever revealing his penis. In another shot, the actor appears lying on his stomach, his eyes still fixed on the camera. Then comes a series of pictures in which he poses in his underwear, his black hair cascading down his body, recalling the aesthetics of Greek statues.
The photographs, which were published in the New York quarterly Paper Magazine and on the star's Instagram account on July 22, provoked a wave of reactions ranging from praise to outrage to mockery. The Mumbai police even opened an investigation on July 26 for obscenity and violation of women's modesty – a law dating back to the Victorian era – after two complaints were filed, one by a little-known NGO called Shyam Mangaram Foundation and the other by a lawyer named Vedika Chaubey.
Since their publication, Indians have not stopped mocking the pictures of the flamboyant celebrity. The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo's famous fresco painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, was photoshopped by internet users to feature Mr. Singh instead of the biblical character.
Others had fun covering with various object the figure of Deepika Padukone's (the famous Indian actress and member of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival's 75th edition) husband: a plaid, a scooter, vegetables ... People have even donated clothing for the star.
Fifty years after Burt Reynolds
Mr. Singh's nudes are a tribute to American actor Burt Reynolds. The 1970s sex symbol had also posed in the nude in the April 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan. Back then, the goal of the photoshoot, conceptualized by Helen Gurley Brown (the magazine's editor-in-chief), was to turn the tables by having a naked man pose for female readers and thus mark "an important step in the sexual revolution."
Fifty years later, stylist and creative director Kshitij Kankaria had the idea in late 2021 of staging Mr. Singh similarly because he "is someone who excels in his field and has outlandish style choices," he told Brut India.
Ranveer Singh actually challenges all of the traditional entrenched notions of 'masculinity' in traditional Indian society," Rahul Sen, author of a thesis on literature and sexuality
Mr. Singh's sartorial experiments have long been a source of jokes and memes. The actor does not hesitate to publicly show himself wearing extravagant skirts and flashy shirts adorned with jewelry, breaking the codes of male fashion. At his wedding, he wore an anarkali, a long dress traditionally worn by women;
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