Taapsee Pannu had stirred quite a storm when she had made comments on the navel obsession of her debut director in South India. Now, yet another actress has spoken on a similar experience.
Ileana D Cruz, who earned popularity in South films before moving her base to Bollywood, has revealed that a fairly big sea shell was thrown on her belly in her debut film. "I asked the director, 'Why did you throw a shell on me?' and he was like, 'it looks beautiful'. I said, but it was really heavy," Deccan Chronicle quotes her as saying to the PTI.
Adding further she recalls when her waist was decorated with flowers."I asked why are you taking shot of my waist, he said because it looks beautiful, lovely. It is supposed to be a mark of a woman's beauty, it's the perception there, they believe that the waist line is the most attractive part."
During an interaction, Taapsee said that she should have worked on her navel before entering South films. She claimed that from her first scene itself a song was picturised with the obsession over her midriff.
The 29-year old continued, "And the director who launched me, he is known to have Midas touch in terms of launching actresses. He launched Sridevi, Jayasudha at that point and It was his 105th movie with me. He is known to show the sensuality of woman by showing the midriff and throwing fruits and flowers on the midriff. However, what left the actress wondering was that a coconut was thrown at her midriff.
Filmmakers in South India have a long history of navel obsession. Legendary Telugu director K Raghavendra Rao is credited for taking his fascination over belly button to the next level by decorating his heroines' navels with fruits and flowers.
