With pyjamas and cigarettes, singer M S Subbulakshmi and dancer T Balasaraswathi broke stereotypes back in 1937
Dressed in stripped pyjama suits with unlit cigarettes tucked into their mouths is this picture of Carnatic Singer MS Subbulakshmi and Bharatnatyam dancer Balasaraswati that would have raised several eyebrows back in 1930s.
This studio photograph of Carnatic singer MS Subbulakshmi and Bharatnatyam dancer Balasaraswati dressed in stripped pyjama suits with cigarettes tucked into their mouths is one of the most iconic pictures of all time.
This fascinating picture recently surfaced on the Madras Local History Facebook group and has since been doing the rounds on social media.
Most of us have grown up looking at MS Subbulakshmi dressed in a silk Saree, exuding with 'Indianness' but this image of her holding a cigarette in night-suits and posing for the cameras can come off as a surprise to many.
According to a blogger the image is from the book Balasaraswati: Her Art and Life by Douglas M Knight and the blurb to this photograph reads:
"Studio portrait of Balasaraswati with M.S Subbulakshmi, 1937. The two teenaged friends both became world famous artists. From strictly disciplined households, the two asserted their independence by secretly arranging this photograph of themselves dressed outrageously in Western-style sleepwear and pretending to smoke cigarettes."
In a review of the book by Douglas Knight, titled ''Beatification of the Erotic", Sadanand Menon writes on Outlook,
"The real 'masala' of the book is a studio photograph some of us have seen in private before, but now made public, of Balamma and fellow Devadasi artist, the legendary singer M.S. Subbulakshmi, both in their teens, dressed in pajama suits, posing with cigarettes. It's a peach and captures perfectly the insouciance of the book."
Another review of the book on Hardnews says about this iconic photo reads, "Significant in this context is a studio photograph of MS Subbulakshmi and Balasaraswati in the 1920s, singer and dancer nonpareil, dressed in stripped pajama suits with cigarettes tucked into their mouths. Both young women look desultory in western clothes and espouse a westernization that most Indians in the 1920s would have been wary of. Ironically, the devadasi was to be rescued because of progressive western ideals that sought to free her from a life of debasement and provide her with a life of morality and dignity."
Another blogger says "MS might have lived a satisfied life as a globe trotting, high- flying, society wife, singing her bhajans and collecting awards. Yet, there isn't the need to revere her, putting her in the high pedestal and treating her God! She is, by all means human, a real pitiable one at that and though I'm no big fan of Carnatic music, I sincerely doubt that if I would ever think cheap about her humble beginnings. What matters to us is, she isn't the typical TamBrahm domesticated singer. No sir. She has the right to hold the fag and drag it too!