Why Thai women adore Kanku Pie

The first time a Thai asked me what I thought about Kanku Pie I replied honestly that it was not one of the pies I was familiar with I had views on apple pie pumpkin pie and custard pie but Kanku was a new oneI may be forgiven for this small misunderstanding Thais have strange phonetic rules when they transliterate words from English to Thai The relevant rule in this case was that when Thais see a lsquobrsquo they pronounce it like a hard lsquoprsquo Similarly when they see a lsquogrsquo they say it like a hard lsquokrsquoOnce I had figured this out the mystery of Kanku Pie solved itself easily becomingmdashwell Gangubai Yes the movie with Alia Bhatt as the mafia queen of KamathipuraIn Thailand she becomes lsquoKankupairsquo the gorgeous supercool sex worker queen who puts men in their place and gets exactly what she wants every timeThe film was released in Thailand on February 25 and became a sensation spreading through social media shares Lowslung white hipster sarees and blouses began sashaying down sidewalks Oversized dark glasses were in as recreated lsquolooksrsquo and scenes from Gangubai began storming Instagram and TikTok garnering millions of viewsAn awestruck Alia Bhatt shared a video of Rachaya Noppakaroon a Thai transgender model recreating the Dholida danceOthers who went full Gangubai included popular Thai actress Cindy Sirinya Bishop former Miss Universe Thailand Chalita Suansane and even an octogenarian grandmother whose take on Gangubai went instantly viralGangubai began streaming on Netflix on April 26 and stayed on the Top 10 list of films in Thailand for seven weeksOne selfstyled IndianThai social scientist pontificated in Bangkokrsquos Masala magazine that Gangubai had ldquoacted as a catalyst in helping Thai women relate to the sex workersrsquo industry in India IndoThai women are ultimately working through a lens of shared solidarity where refusal of their rights is just a global upshotrdquoErudite poppycockIs Gangubai really a hit in Thailand because like India it has a thriving sex industry Did a Bollywood songanddance megahit really stir a social awakening in another countryIrsquove done my homework The first myth is that all of Thailand is like all of Mumbairsquos Kamathipura and that Thai women are lsquoeasyrsquo As proof you might be shown sweating grossly overweight white foreigners with pacemakers in Bermuda shorts waddling through city streets with fetching young Thai women He looks very retired she is attentive managing to look cheerful though shersquos definitely bored Theyrsquore holding hands like teenage lovers And itrsquos all paid formdashby agreement theyrsquore both getting exactly what they want from thisBut Thailand is not a nation of sluts Itrsquos a country of crushed young women and single mothers crippled by little schooling living in extreme poverty with aging parents to look after and children they hardly get to see Hair styling nail care a spectrum of massages from therapeutic to soapymdashthese are the vocations they can reach with a little training And yes for the more desperate sex work a 64billion industry that provides 3 per cent of Thailandrsquos GDPThe second myth is that American soldiers started the sex industry here during the Vietnam war when they visited Thailand for RampRmdashRest and Recreation though some believed lsquoIntoxication and Intercoursersquo might have been a better description Americans did create demand and poor women did migrate to Bangkok from rural towns to fill that need but transactional sex in Thailand goes back centuries when kings had concubines and women were tradable It was even legal and taxable onceOf late sex work has become somewhat gentrified A woman could say she was a freelancer and hang on to some dignity COVID19 robbed millions of their livelihoods but it also increased the lines of evening lsquofreelancersrsquo on Sukhumvit Behind their lipstick and mascara though here are women with their backs to the wall trying to look as pretty as they can because their appearance is all they have the power to controlThen along comes Gangubai dropdead gorgeous trashtalking fearless every manrsquos nemesismdashand what a dancerGangubai wasnrsquot a hit because it echoed the shared pain of Indian and Thai women with their bodies on sale I think it made women feel good about themselves no matter what they did for a living If you couldnrsquot be Alia Bhattrsquos Gangubai and rule the world you could at least try to dress like her and do the DholidaThe last time I came from India to Thailand I had to carry six ghagra cholis in my suitcase One was for a young woman who clips my toenails another was for my 62yearold hairdresser of many years two were for men one Thai and one Laotian who thought this would win them points with their Thai ladiesAnd one was for a highranking Thai woman in the United Nations who swore me to secrecyYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper