"Queen of Bollywood" to go Hollywood

Queen of Bollywood

To the purists: Asia is Asia, but some quarrel over the deisgnation of 'Asian' on a ethnic vs. continential/heritage view. (While I am happy to argue that - see more).

Anyways - here is an Indian hottie who has in the past years stirred things up to the point that you are assured not to overlook her in the West. Miss World, 'Queen of Bollywood' and with more than few movies booked in Hollywood.


Queen of Bollywood

In an interview on Sunday's 60 Minutes, CBS's Bob Simon talked with Rai, who is 31, discussing her work in India and her aspirations for the future. Rai, who has starred in more than 30 films in India, is about to begin filming The Mistress of Spices. She will also be appearing in Chaos with Meryl Streep and Singularity with Brendan Fraser.

There's a story and pics here. To fight with me about the definition of 'Asia' and 'Asian' - get you oriential shoes out, plow down the Persian carpet, and visit our forum (requires a brain).


Posted by: William Sparrow on Oct 19, 05 | 8:29 pm | Profile

COMMENTS


William....this Indian beauty has such a pretty face! Thanks for sharing!

I'll be honest, I am not usually attracted to most Indian women. But on occasion (such as this) some do catch my eye.

Even prior to your posting today, I have had two Indian ladies in mind for features here on Asian-Sirens. The first one should be up by one day next week.

I don't plan to get carried away with posting Indian ladies. Just on rare occasions as your's was today.

One of the nice aspects of Asian-Sirens is the unexpected surprises we see on here almost everyday!

Thanks again!
NM


Posted by: NorthMan on Oct 20, 05 | 5:21 am

Yeah, she is a babe! In my experience Indian women vary from absolutely gorgeous to, well, right at the opposite end of the scale...


Posted by: Dr. Lee on Oct 20, 05 | 5:39 am

"I don't plan to get carried away with posting Indian ladies. Just on rare occasions as your's was today."

GOOD!!! ;-)


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 9:18 am

I hear ya brother! :-)


Posted by: NorthMan on Oct 20, 05 | 9:19 am

Subtitle in the new design will be: "The essence of Oriental beauty". Ha! ;-)


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 9:24 am

Some Asian women are offended by the Oriental designation and think it should only be used to describe non-human objects like rugs.

Robin, sorry that you don't seem to care much for Indian women. As others mentioned, some can be quite beautiful and to me many look just as much Asian as lets say some Indonesian models for example.


Posted by: badboy on Oct 20, 05 | 9:34 am

I DO like Indian women, so to post them once and a while is okay with me. As long as the focus of this site is on South-East Asia and the Pacific. I could also post about women from Turkey and Saoudi-Arabia otherwise (also Asia!), but somehow I don't think that is what our visiotors are looking for... ;-)

Well, Marco and I had the Oriental discussion a little while ago, and I thought he was okay with it. I do not want to offend people, but after reading the Dictionary.com definition once again, I think you might be right... Personally I don't see why someone would be offended by it, but I'll reconsider for sure... Did not hear anyone about it after I sent the new design scetch around though...?


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 9:42 am

I guess I was looking at other things in the design. You can just replace Oriental with Asian, perhaps?

Personally, I don't see that much distinction between Southeast Asia (or Pacific Islander) and South Asian. I agree that there is a big distinction between Middle Eastern and the rest of Asia. Speaking of ASG, that is one thing I find odd is the inclusion of Israel sex news since it probably involves Jews with no Asian ancestry whatsoever.

As far as the debate over what constitutes Asian, I believe that took place during the discussion of whether Jessic Alba qualifies as Asian in the comments of the entry about Devon Aoki.


Posted by: badboy on Oct 20, 05 | 9:58 am

Yes, I still stand by Marco's old definition. (25%! ;-))

But this is another discussion. Which countries should we cover... What do you consider South-Asia? I think Indonesia is also South-East Asia. But probably it is South-Asia?

Asian-Sirens.com - the essence of Asian beauty? Isn't that a bit double?


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 10:07 am

Since this discussion comes round again every once in a while, is it an idea to make guidelines as to which countries/ethnicities are ok, and which are outside of AS-focus?

Maybe a map with red lines around the designated "oriëntal" area? :)


Posted by: Pixelchaos on Oct 20, 05 | 10:11 am

I believe Indonesia is considered part of Southeast Asia but I was just trying to point out that Indonesians are not that much closer to the so called "oriental" standard than South Asians. There is a large Chinese population in Indonesia so there may be some Indonesian women who have some percentage of Chinese in the mix.

The question is do we want to draw the line at one of the most populous countries in the world whose Miss Universe contestants are usually considered frontrunners for the title. I would prefer to draw the line a little to the left and exclude the Middle East. I don't think they consider themselves Asian anyway even if they are part of the Asian continent.


Posted by: badboy on Oct 20, 05 | 10:22 am

IMHO RateThisAsian.com has a nice list, which includes India and Pakistan:

Burmese - Cambodian - Chinese - Filipino - Hmong - Indian - Indonesian - Japanese - Korean - Laotian - Malaysian - Pacific Islander - Pakistani - Singaporean - Taiwanese - Thai - Vietnamese.

(I do miss Nepalese, Tibetan and Mongolian in this list though...)


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 10:29 am

"Asian-Sirens.com - the essence of Asian beauty? Isn't that a bit double?"

A bit but not too bad IMHO.

Would it be too long to write "the essence of Asian female beauty". It is similar to the old tagline but I think that leaving Asian out may have offended some non-Asian women claiming that Asian women have the essense of female beauty while they do not.


Posted by: badboy on Oct 20, 05 | 10:30 am

Yes, I imagine that Nepalese, Tibetan, and Mongolian were accidently excluded on the RateThisAsian.com list. I am sure it was just an oversight.

I found Nepalese women when I went to Nepal to be very beautiful with what looks like a mix of South Asian and Tibetan. The Tibetan girls I met in Nepal were quite flirtatious but then again so was one of the Nepalese girls who spoke English.


Posted by: badboy on Oct 20, 05 | 10:36 am

Thanks for your replies, compliments and thoughts. Robin - thanks as always for cleaning up for me! :)

I wasn't going to get into it here, but since the subject is open: who is to define what is Asian? Ethnic Asian? Continentially Asian? In many respects, as Asian Sex Gazette represents, if you're born/raised in Asia - you're Asian...

So that would include: Russian, Ukrainian, Turk, Israeli, Arab, Indian, etc, etc...

While there has been consorted effort for more than fifty years with the Cold War and such to isolate (Russia), and geo-politically redefine the borders of Europe (drawing ex-soviet states and Turkey), the fact remains that - whether the Western powers like it or not - that all of these states are firmly defined as "Asia".

As Robin stated - and was digitally spanked for - 'Oriental' has indeed becoome a term that is not used for people but instead objects, but in truth, it used to be used as a bastardized designation for general 'Asian heritage'. But in an era of political correctness and proper designations ("I'm not Asian, I am Hmong!"), this has been dropped.

By in large there are really only a few groups that make up Asia (and I know I will miss a few here) but they are: Asians, Arabs, Turkomen, Jews, Hindi and Slavs...

And until someone says 'Opps, the map was wrong...' and redefines the borders of Asia - to me anyway - they are all Asian.... :)

See ya!


Posted by: William Sparrow on Oct 20, 05 | 10:58 am

Yes, in many ways this discussion seems a bit pointless... There are just different viewpoints to this whole 'what is Asian?' discussion. All are right and no one is wrong :-)

Personally I think (and hope Marco agrees, since he is still the man in charge ;-)) that we should only cover the list I mentioned 4 comments before ;-)


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 11:33 am

I think oriental is the closest term to what we normally mean here by Asian - I really don't think many people are offended by it (I'm sure there must be some people offended by the word Asian too). So I think "the essence of oriental beauty" is the best we can do in practice.

And as Marco has done in the past, while the main focus of AS should be on oriental women, we can post on others every now and again, as long as they're related (e.g. Indian women, or oriental-looking women like Jessica Alba). I think we all know what we want to see here, and we all pretty much agree on it, so the terminology is just semantics really.


Posted by: Dr. Lee on Oct 20, 05 | 12:08 pm

Thanks Lee.
Marco, maybe we should have another little poll:

asian-sirens.com:
1. the essence of female beauty
2. the essence of oriental beauty
3. the essence of asian beauty


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 12:20 pm

and combinations:
4. the essence of female oriental beauty
5. the essence of female asian beauty


Posted by: Pixelchaos on Oct 20, 05 | 1:19 pm

Naah! Too long. They just don't cover the essence! ;-)


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 1:54 pm

I would vote for Asian Beauty in the broad spectrum of the word!


Posted by: Codepriest on Oct 20, 05 | 2:34 pm

Given those choices, I would choose the 3rd one "the essence of asian beauty". After all, the name of this website is Asian Sirens not Oriental Sirens. I also personally know people who would be offended by the use of Oriental for people and have read numerous articles/essays on the subject as well. The only people I hear using Oriental for people in the US is my grandparent's generation so that should tell you something.


Posted by: badboy on Oct 20, 05 | 8:44 pm

Okay, hearing all this, we should skip the term Oriental. Here in Holland it is not a big deal, but if it is in the good old US of A, we should not do it. Too controversial then... Too bad! Thought it sounded nice :-(


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 20, 05 | 11:50 pm

"The Essence of Asian Beauty" doesn't sound bad to me although I was happy with my good old "The Essence of Female Beauty" as well ;-)


Posted by: thanirz on Oct 21, 05 | 12:58 am

Marco has spoken. It will be done :-)


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 21, 05 | 9:19 am

I think this t-shirt says it all:



model: Joy Bisco


Posted by: Robin Hood on Oct 30, 05 | 5:32 pm

This is weird - oriental just doesn't have this sort of connotation outside the US. Why is it this way there?


Posted by: Dr. Lee on Oct 31, 05 | 3:54 am

I don't get what that shirt is trying to say. Can anyone explain it to me?

"Asian is (not) oriental"

What is their point?


Posted by: NorthMan on Oct 31, 05 | 3:57 am

It seems they're trying to say 'oriental' is a negative term, like 'nigger'. I really just don't know where this idea comes from though.


Posted by: Dr. Lee on Oct 31, 05 | 4:05 am

Lee.....it may very well be some consider 'oriental' negative.....but comparing it to 'nigger' is too strong. i.e., If you referred to an Asian as 'oriental" they might get somewhat offended. But if you referred to a black person as a nigger, you are likely to get a MUCH stronger response!


Posted by: NorthMan on Oct 31, 05 | 4:19 am

I agree, but I couldn't think of any other example to express what I was trying to say. Indeed, personally I don't see oriental as negative at all, and nor do any of my Asian friends.


Posted by: Dr. Lee on Oct 31, 05 | 4:25 am

Wow guys, I was looking up "oriental" on dictionary.com and found this info on why the term it's considered negative by some Asians.

ori·ental·ly adv.

Usage Note: Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The usual objection to Oriental meaning “eastern”is that it identifies Asian countries and peoples in terms of their location relative to Europe. However, this objection is not generally made of other Eurocentric terms such as Near and Middle Eastern. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue, the home of despotic empires and inscrutable customs. At the least these associations can give Oriental a dated feel, and as a noun in contemporary contexts (as in the first Oriental to be elected from the district) it is now widely taken to be offensive. However, Oriental should not be thought of as an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. As with Asiatic, its use other than as an ethnonym, in phrases such as Oriental cuisine or Oriental medicine, is not usually considered objectionable.

Full Dictionary.com link HERE


Posted by: NorthMan on Oct 31, 05 | 4:47 am

Wow, thanks NorthMan! I still think finding this term offensive is a serious over reaction though.


Posted by: Dr. Lee on Oct 31, 05 | 5:04 am

No problem....History was not my best subject, so I found this explaination very interesting.


Posted by: NorthMan on Oct 31, 05 | 5:10 am

I've been aware of Aishwarya Rai as an Indian movie star for several years now. I keep wondering what's taking so long for Hollywood to notice her.
She's beautiful and intelligent!! She has a great legs too! ;-)


Posted by: siamesetiger on Dec 24, 05 | 4:12 am

My fiance is Filipino and she doesn't consider herself Asian. She calls herself a Pacific Islander.


Posted by: Denver11 on Aug 16, 08 | 2:50 am

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm fairly positive that Filipino is not Pacific Islander: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islander
Though admittedly they also have a unique history.


Posted by: TravisStroup on Aug 16, 08 | 2:58 am