Some interesting thoughts on this Thursday of Jan 2020.
1 Recently I have seen that some of the celebrities have formed a habit of joining any political/non political protest, without going deep into it and then if someone ask them about their reactions on that particular issues, then they are unable to give any proper response. Last month when there was protest in Mumbai at August Kranti Maidan on the issue of NRC and CAA, one of the leading Bollywood actor/writer/director Farhan Akhtar joined the protest with some of his Bollywood friends. He whole heartedly participated in the protest. Later a video surfaced in Social media, where during the same protest a TV reported asked him about the real issue about how he is going to be affected by NRC & CAA, then friends what was his response, he said “ I thought because thousands of people are joining this protest, then there must be something wrong about NRC & CAA. Then there are Bollywood people like Swara Bhaskar, Anuraag Kashyap and their friendly gang who are there in each and every rally where they condemn the govt without going through the real issue.
Few days back, Deepika Padukone was seen with JNU students for the protest against attack on them by some unidentified masked people. She was in capital to promote her latest , to be released film Chhapak on coming Friday, 10th Jan 2020. Without knowing the problem fully, she declared her solidarity with the protesting students. Did she knew what was the cause of attack; NO. She just went there on the instructions of her media/public relation advisor, who thought this type of publicity will be good for her upcoming film. This advisor is handling her account since 2011, and from 2012 her stars are rising continuously. Did she realised that these are same students who were part of “Tuked Tukde Gang”, who raised anti India slogans like “ India Tere Tukde Tukde Honge ”, “Afzal Guru Zindabad” and many more such anti national slogans. The same media advisor is also associated with Aamir Khan & Shah Rukh Khan, who raised ‘ country is becoming intolerant’ and is it worth living?
In my opinion these type of celebrities will do any thing to stay in limelight in the media. Now, on social media already anti Deepika campaign is started and there is call for boycott of her film Chhapak. The same thing happened with Shah Rukh Khan 10 years back, when he made a statement that ‘banning Pakistan player for IPL tournament should not have happen’. His film ‘My Name Is Khan’ was not able to open on the opening Friday, as there were all sorts of protest against him. His IPL team ‘Kolkata Knight Riders’ had star Pakistani players, just because his team would have suffered some losses he made that statement. For Shah Rukh his team was more important for him, than his nation. For some of these celebrities, who has very low IQ, it has become quite an habit of putting their foot in mouth for attracting the attention of media without realising the repercussion of the same, for the self and nation.
2 Friends, you all must have not forgotten, the interview of Indian all rounder Hardik Pandya, when he appeared with cricketing colleague KL Rahul on “ Koffee with Karan. In this show he made some derogatory and outrageous comments on women in particular. This chat show vent viral and that led to their suspension, and instituted an inquiry into their conduct by BCCI. In his latest statement Pandya said things were not particularly in his control during interview. He said “ We, cricketers did not know what was going to happen. The ball was not in my court, it was in someone else’s court where they had to take the shot and that is very vulnerable place, you do not want to be in it.”
That time Pandya & Rahul were both called back from an ongoing series against Australia and captain Virat Kohli was openly critical of their comments on the show. They eventually returned after explaining themselves and apologising to the inquiry committee of the BCCI.
KL Rahul is playing in T20 series against Sri Lanka, but Hardik Pandya has not played cricket since Sept 2019, as he is recovering from a back injury.
This is one more case of celebrity speak, here both Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul spoke without realising the repercussion. In fact their career suffered because of this chat show, they should consider themselves lucky that they got away with lighter punishment.
What you say my Friends.
Awaiting your comments/views/feed backs.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
9th Jan 2020