"The Lime Light can get Acidic"

There’s nobody in this world who dislikes gaining name and fame.

The whole country knows you. You are talked about in every house. You have to face the

paparazzi.

It all feels good but there is another side to the story as well.

Fame comes with a tax of being under the scanner. You have to choose your words and

works with caution. It’s like think twice and thrice even if you have to stay unwise!

From being on the top charts in the Forbes magazine to Wankhede stadium where he

became notorious due to his foul mouth during IPL matches, to the US airport where

he is always questioned, Shahrukh Khan always grabs a large amount of space on the

headlines of a newspaper.

He does not always rule in a royal way but whatever way it is, people love discussing

him, raising him to the throne or pushing him in to the river to drown. A few

months back, during the IPL season when SRK showed his angst and mouthed a few

objectionable words in Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, Sanchari Bhattacharya wrote an

article  " Why we love to Hate SRK? " It is an interesting read,

but the author of course sounds like a true SRK fan. Others definitely would love to talk

against the article and do their mudslinging part.

The article has a link to that night’s recording too, where we hear that even SRK had to

face the constable’s angst and verbal abuse, but all we are interested in is what SRK said

that night because “SRK and sex sell in India,” as told by Neha Dhupia.

After watching his long reply to Rehman Malik, the Pakistani minister, I understood

how tough it is to be a celebrity and speak your mind out. Click on the link - SRK's reply to Rehman Malik for the detailed reply and video.

Like he said stars are soft targets. They always have to give long explanations and justifications after their write ups, speeches and movies .They actually have to say why they did it after doing anything and everything. We are a celebrity struck nation.  We are obsessed by them and our love or hatred towards them is strong and it multiplies every year.

Our favorite star buys a new car. We follow the news more than the falling share value of the company we work for. The matchless beauty gained weight after delivery. The fans were again bothered by it or might have got happy thinking everyone has the same fate and stars are no different.  The number of times Aishwarya’s obese picture was circulated on FB and the prolonged discussions that followed made me dizzy.  Being a celebrity is not all about lime light. Most of the times it’s about avoiding the same.  Someone truly said that “A celebrity is one who craves to enter from the front door till he becomes famous and escapes from the back door after becoming famous!”

Celebrities have the power to escape the imprisonment and get away with their crimes but they are always under a magnifying lens.  We may not get united and react to that road accident or violation of some other law because of our love towards them but we vehemently raise our voice against their opinions or movies or articles. We are offended and take it personal if he/she does something against our will.

 Kamal Hassan’s Vishwaroopam is another example. The movie is getting space in the headlines since its release. Kamal Hassan said in the latest news that he has to leave India and search for a secular country! He said if Hussain has to do it Hassan also will do it.

The rapists may escape the punishment under the alibi of being juvenile, another Kasab’s death sentence will be delayed under humanitarian grounds, soldiers will be beheaded at the borders, hate speeches will keep flowing from one region to another, politicians will continue giving their never ending baseless opinions and ideas to prevent rape of which “avoiding chowmein” and going home straight from school or college have hit the charts till date! They will be asked questions blatantly by Arnab Goswami after that. Getting Arnabized is the term coined for that lately!  Burkha dutt will argue everything on the television seeking every one’s opinion!

In midst of all this Kamal Hassan releases his movie and Shahrukh khan writes something about “Being a Khan” on outlook which grab eyeballs all over India!

If it was not a celebrity nobody would have reacted so violently. If I wrote the same it would have been liked or read or ignored but it is Shahrukh Khan we are talking about. He will continue living lavishly, anchoring few more award shows and buying more players for his team and acting in more movies. Fools are the people who pick few words from here and there and create an altogether a different meaning out of them making it an “objectionable” article.  May be that’s the reason why Shahrukh requested media to release the video of his response “as it is” all over the news so that people actually see and understand in what tone he is talking and interpret in the way it has to be!

Hussain, Hassan, Khan , Rushdie whoever it might be , its yet again proved that pen is not mightier than sword. Pen itself can be the sword which can make you fight for yourself.  During this hullabaloothe rape rates continue zooming, social atrocities keep growing, corruption rate keeps increasing and the number of people below poverty line keeps rising.

It’s not that we are not bothered about the crime and injustice. We fight for them too but we have our best interests in the celebrities’ life and their works. We fight till our last breathe to ban the movies and books we don’t like and to call an actor an outsider but meanwhile all the actual crimes which happen will keep happening. Yes we are Indians. We love to track our stars and know the future but we are more obsessed by the stars and love deciding their future!

Originally published at -"The viewspaper"

Afshan Shaik