Tina Turner has raised eyebrows and defied expectations throughout her four-decade career, and she is doing it again at 64.
She initially hooked fans as a twenty-something in the early 1960s, performing high-energy live shows with then-husband Ike.
Her divorce from Ike in the 1970s and rise to international stardom as a Grammy sweetheart and MTV staple in the 1980s are now the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend, as dramatized in the 1993 movie “What’s Love Got to do With It.”
Turner beat out musical acts young enough to be her grandchildren in 2000 to claim the No. 1 spot among American concert tours when she raked in more than $88 million.
But, not everyone is praising Turner’s latest eyebrow-raising career move.
Filmmakers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, whose films include “The Remains of the Day” and “Howards End,” cast Turner in the lead role of their upcoming movie “The Goddess.” She will portray Shakti, a Hindu goddess of female power and strength.
Shakti, known in other incarnations as Kali and Durga, has the ability to destroy demonic forces and create balance. She wears a necklace of skulls.
Hindus around the world have voiced their disapproval of casting the sexagenarian, saying Merchant and Ivory were “insensitive” to do so because of Turner’s image as a “sex icon.”
Merchant, who was born in India, home to an estimated 800 million Hindus, has continually defended his choice to worldwide media, citing Turner’s “charisma” and energy, which he calls the embodiment of female strength.
In a statement on the Merchant Ivory Productions Web site, Merchant said the film will be made with a “spirit of reverence.”
Turner will perform classical Indian songs in Sanskrit and Latin as well as English for the movie.
Ameya Mohidekar, an industrial engineering graduate student from India who practices Hindu, said he had not heard people talk about the movie locally.
He was not personally upset about Turner’s role.
Like Merchant, Rao said Turner is a “good example” of “a great lady.”
“I would cast her for the same part,” he said. “A lot of her songs have been inspiring, like ‘Simply the Best.'”
However, Hindu gods and goddesses are “revered,” Rao said, and movie directors should be sensitive to the respect Hindus have for them.
“People have their own image of these gods and goddesses,” he said. “The image is someone who is heavenly.”
Bimal Krishna Das, who represents the United Kingdom’s National Council of Hindu Temples, also has commented about the proper portrayal of a goddess to international media. Das said Turner “should not smoke, drink or have illicit sexual relations” as she prepares to portray Shakti.
Rao did not comment on Turner’s personal life, but said the movie should not show her doing any of the activities Das mentioned because they would seem “obscene” if a goddess did them.
He clarified his idea by asking the question, “Would they show Jesus Christ smoking?”
Gods and goddesses are held to a higher standard, Rao said.
“You wouldn’t want them to do those nasty things that us humans — us mortals — do,” he said.
Shirin Vakil, a mechanical engineering master’s student and the vice president of the Indian Student Association, disagrees with Merchant’s choice to cast Turner.
“Her reputation precedes her,” said Vakil, a practicing Hindu.
Vakil said Turner’s image is too sexy for her to play a goddess, though it would be acceptable for her to play a lesser role.
Administrators with the International Cultural Center and the Office of International Programs said the issue of Turner’s image had not been brought to their attention by any Hindu students.
“The Goddess” will not be Turner’s first turn at the big screen. She has portrayed powerful women who are often sexy, lending aid to both sides of the current controversy over her reputation.
In the 1975 movie version of The Who’s rock opera “Tommy,” Turner gave a raucous performance as The Acid Queen — a drug-using hooker entrusted with the job of helping the “deaf, dumb and blind” Tommy regain his senses.
Director George Miller recruited Turner for the third installment of Mel Gibson’s “Mad Max” trilogy in 1985. She played the metallic dress-wearing villain Aunty Entity in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” and recorded the No. 2 Billboard Hot 100 hit, “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” for the soundtrack.
Though she has angered some Hindus, Turner is not ignorant of religion.
As epitomized in her self-penned hit “Nutbush City Limits,” as a girl Turner “went to church on Sundays” and sang in the choir at a Baptist church in her rural Tennessee hometown of Nutbush.
She converted to Buddhism in the 1970s.
Turner recently traveled with Merchant to India, hoping to gain a greater understanding of Hindu culture. She has said the country is “special” to her.
“I hope I can do the role some justice,” Turner said in March.