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
