Aishwarya Rai | Kajra Re | Bunty Aur Babli

The song-Kajra Re, performed by Aishwarya Rai in Bunty aur Babli, borrows nuances from the traditional mujra, and the permissiveness of the kotha culture. But Kajra Re is all bait and beguilement, without the pathos, poetry and existential angst that haunted the tawaifs of the past. She’s also bereft of any moral baggage. In a notoriously short choli and low-waist lehenga, she makes it amply clear: it would be criminal to cover up that modern gym-toned torso with a traditional dupatta.