Chinese repression hits |car show 'pretties'

You know how guys love going to auto shows to see the “pretties” draped across the latest motoring innovations in breathtakingly tight outfits cut all the way down to there and up to here? Well, the guys in Shanghai have just had some bad news – no pretties at this year’s car show. They’ll just have to take their cameras (and lust) elsewhere.

There was immediate and furious protest – from the pretties, though, not the guys. The abruptly out-of-work lovelies staged a demonstration outside Xujianhui Station in Metro City, dressed in “rags” and pretended to be begging for money. “We want to survive!” their placards said. All their efforts to stay slim (yet busty) had been in vain, the girls complained, much to the delight of everyone on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter. 

The English-language Shanghaiist.com found the story pretty amusing too, as did mainstream Chinese newspapers and foreign tabloids like Britain’s Daily Mail, which noted mixed reactions over the protest. Many commentators felt the models should be allowed to earn a living from their looks, but others seemed to think that car shows should be about, you know, cars. What a concept!

Visitors to the China Daily website insisted that the state shouldn’t be meddling with morality. “If you think it’s immoral, it’s because your mind is immoral,” someone said. “There are far worse social problems for the authorities to address than this.” 

Well put, but then this is China. Just let General Prayut try and kick the ladies out of Thailand’s car shows – the tanks would surely roll again.

 

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Our girl in Bollywood

Actress-singer Jariya Somboon, better known as Ann Mitchai, princess of likay, is a great case study for Thai entertainers hoping to work abroad. She’s one of the biggest stars in Bollywood after three years in India. 

Ann tells Thai Rath Online on a quick visit home that she went there to sing, but then her manager also landed her a lead role in the 2013 film “Ishk Actually” co-starring opposite Rajeev Khandelwal. She recorded the movie’s soundtrack in Hindi and English as well, banking the equivalent of Bt30 million in all. (No, she doesn’t actually speak Hindi, but then a few of her fans can’t believe she’s not Indian either.) 

Next came a contract with Universal Music, which put out Ann’s first international single, “Live My Life My Way”, last October. The video’s drawn more than five million views on YouTube. 

“The competition in Bollywood is, like, 100 times worse than in Thailand,” Ann says, but she’s cutting a swath through it and the only “hardship” she faces is keeping up with the other celebrities’ swank lifestyles. “A star there has to live the luxury life,” she says, “everything top of the line – house, car etc. You won’t survive if you don’t have Bt50 million to spare. And you can’t just walk down the street or go shopping. I didn’t believe that at first, but then I sneaked out and my driver had to save me from this huge crowd of fans!” 

Thai Rath asks how much she’ll be charging for her next big Bollywood picture – maybe that Bt50 million she needs? “About that, but don’t say it’s that high ’cause I’m afraid of the taxes!”