By Rajan Narayan

THE Supreme Court has condemned the language used by Youtuber Beer Biceps Ranveer Allahbadia. The SC has ruled that the remarks were vulgar and in bad taste. At the same time, the SC has given the YouTuber protection from arrest in the cases filed against them all over the country, upholding the right to free speech. What the Youtuber said on the talk show: “India has latent talent that may be immoral.”
The question is if it is illegal? Ranveer Allahbadia very crudely referred to the private parts of women. His crime was not that he openly referred to women’s private parts but that he did so very crudely. The YouTuber referred to women in a way that lowered women’s dignity. We cannot reproduce his words because that would be giving this subject too much importance. Indeed, the reason for the up road is that this unfortunate remarks have been amplified by the electronic media.
IN the first place, the show India’s Got Latent Talent is not a free YouTube channel. It is hidden behind a paywall. This means that you cannot access the so-called humor show unless you pay for it. So all those who are complaining about the remarks of Ranveer Allahbadia pay to watch and listen to smutty jokes. The problem is that even in the digital age where everyone has access to the entire range of dirty talk and dirty pictures, etcetera, we are still very reluctant to talk about the nature of sex or body parts freely. The big crime is to talk about them openly.
As Ashwin Sanghi, who has been a guest on Ranveer’s broadcast show, points out that Hindi movies and particularly Bhojpuri movies are full of dirty talk. Nobody appears to have rejected movies like “Gand Masti.” There are OTT shows calling themselves “Gandhi Baat.” The very popular reality show “Big Boss” is full of vulgar references. It appears to be okay to talk about body parts as “weapon” and refer to the act of sex as “kudayi” digging.
Youtube is full of videos of “suhag raat” with new brides talking freely about the size of the husband’s penis. The central issue should be treating all human relationships, including sexual ones, respectfully. Even more important is to protect the sensitivity of women. Unfortunately, women have always been kept in the closet.
In traditional Indian homes everyone pretends or behaves like women don’t have their menstrual periods. Women themselves traditionally refer to the menstrual period as “the curse.” In orthodox families the women is virtually expected to spend her period days in isolation. She is to stay away from the kitchen and temple as her monthly period is perceived as an unclean time.
Reflecting on the status of women in our society think of the swear words linked to women’s body parts. As the late Kushwant Singh kept insisting in his writings we Indians are a bunch of hypocrites. Kushwant Singh scandalized everyone by talking openly about sex when he took over as editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, which was India’s largest-selling magazine in the 80s and 90s.
However, traditional society was far more open about sexuality. We tend to forget that it was India which produced the Kamasutra treatise which is India’s “bible” of sexual relationships. No politician or court including the SC have called for a ban on the Kamasutra. It is not widely recognised that Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda, the 12th century dated immortal poem about the relationship between Radha and Krishna, is among the most erotic literature in the world.
India is the home of the Khajuraho and Konarak complexes which have very explicit sculptures of the entire range of sexual positions described in the Kamasutra. Our ancient societies were broad-minded enough to accept all kinds of deviations including group sex. This is illustrated in erotica of ancient art and literature, the depiction or manifestation or illustration of kama or desire.
Tantra deals with all aspects of life including sexuality. Indian philosophy, literature and culture, have always thrive on intellectual freedom. Unfortunately, modern humans are not allowed to be inspired by the gods. Just recently the Supreme Court held that the nude paintings of goddesses by the late artist MF Hussain as not obscene. There are charges of obscenity too against the famous Goan painter FN Souza.
I recall that way back in the 90s, an English play by Gurucharan Das called “A Touch of Brightness” inspired by the red light district in Mumbai, was banned. Again several literary classics like DH Lawrence’ “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” have been banned at various stages in India and even in its own country of origin, Britain.
Vulgarity is in the mind, the eyes and the ears of the observer. It is all the more absurd to punish dirty talk in the digital age where everyone has access to pornography and worse. Way back in 1991, the better half published a book of poems under the title “Single Woman & Other Poems.” Perhaps the world was more liberal in the 90s than it is in 2025. Actually, this is not true. Sex has been driven underground by the puritanical BJP government. We are reproducing a paragraph from Tara Patel’s poem “To be Alive”:

The world is not your oyster.
A pearl’s innocence is in question
where men are bastards,
until proved otherwise.
Women chase men’s balls, saying,
If you catch a man by his balls
his heart and mind will follow.”
Humour is a man’s sense of humour.
A poisonous sun blazing
In a high wind of indifference.
The pecking order is alive and kicking.
Someone picks up a stone,
Another follows.
You wake up every day in a world
Where dreams are mortal.
Ambitions dry up on the tree of life.
A smile is prised away by a sneer.
The tongues of men and women are lined
With thorns.
To preserve their own vulnerability
At the cost of another’s.
You trip over a galaxy of egoes glittering
In the wilderness like false gold.
Nothing is as pure as a mountain blue poppy.
Each saving grace turns to straw.
You need a new reason every day to be alive.