For a very long time, I have wanted to write about this topic but I'd either be stopped by my own inhibitions or by the "let things work as they are" mentality. Any Indian who has grown up watching Bollywood movies or simply kept his/her ears open knows about the Bollywood's who's who. We have grown up that way, even if we liked or hated Bollywood, we have byhearted their names and would obviously greet them(least of all) if not beg them for autographs or selfies if given a chance.
From time to time, we keep getting to know different news feeds related to them - be it who's dating whom, who is pregnant, who's going to Hollywood, who married whom, and believe me now the news is so multifaceted that it's impossible to categorize it let alone think about its credibility. But as long as it is gossip, to just listen to watching TV, or via social media, we enjoy it. Talking about Bollywood stars doesn't harm them no matter how ridiculous or malicious the topic is. It is because being famous is their profession, they get paid for it - it directly impacts the extent to which they can influence people and the influence may be good or bad, they don't care about it. It does harm us though, but we don't realize the harm that very instant. We realize it years later when something happens that opens our eyes and we look back and think how die-hard fans we were of the celebrities growing up and how that misled us in life.
3 months ago an incident like that happened. On 14 June, the news broke out, Sushant Singh Rajput was no more. A brilliant and intelligent man, who achieved what he set his eyes on since the beginning, academics and showbiz alike, who starred in a movie based on mental health and suicide, was claimed to have committed suicide at his apartment in Mumbai. Like most Indians, I was also stunned to hear the news and couldn't sleep properly thinking something like that happened to such a popular Bollywood star. Then later, some of my friends told me that they heard on the news that he was suffering from depression for 6 months. It was equally hard to believe as was the news of his passing away. Soon I could see all Bollywood related people putting all sorts of RIP messages. The format though remained the same - RIP <name>, will miss the <any activity they claim to have done with him>, <string of emojis><a selfie with the person>. For a few celebs who didn't post anything, fans started hurling abuses at them of being too self-involved to write about the loss of someone from their fraternity. A few celebs also started posting about mental health and running campaigns, hashtags, etc. to follow. A few weeks later when the news had died down, somehow the case was opened. A few things didn't add up and made it hard to believe that it was a suicide. Some more time passed and out came the ugly truth of Bollywood.
Soon as anyone would comment on anything on Aaditya Thackeray or Salman Khan or Sooraj Pancholi being involved in a party that had happened a few days before the fateful day, there would surface some creative strategy to silence those remarks. And it's shocking to see how many different tools are there for PR agencies to use for any purpose they want - be it uplifting someone's reputation or tarnishing it beyond repair. And its the outcome of these strategies that we as an audience think that someone is dumb or someone is genuine at heart or kind or generous etc. There are many actors about whom you'd hear all good things but go to Quora and check questions like "Who is the rudest Bollywood celebrity ever?" and you'll see a very different perspective. There are also some actors who were doing very good at a point in their career but they had a tiff with some powerful Bollywood name and they lost all their movie offers and soon faded away. When we think about those actors, we somehow just conclude that either their acting deteriorated over time or they got busy with their families because that's what we're made to believe and since thinking like that about someone who is just famous and not a personal connection is harmless we stamp this explanation and move on.
The reason Sushant Singh Rajput's death feels so personal though is that it just brought to light how huge the impact of the influencers is on us since we were kids and how much we were misled ever since the beginning that now no CBI and no NCB and no news channel can break the truth to us. We have just realized that no one is to be trusted, not even ourselves. What will happen in this case would probably just be a mere competition of power and truth but it does incite anger among people with new shocking facts about the celebrities we worship emerging every day and brings us to question ourselves. We write hate comments on the celebrities' tweets or hurl abuses at their selfies but just like it didn't affect them back when we'd gossip about them to pass time, it wouldn't affect them now regardless of their involvement in this case. The only way to actually make something palpable happen here is if you unfollow and stop worshipping these celebs. They are people, not stars, not God. If you don't watch their movies or view their posts on social media, and completely boycott them, they'll realize the harm they've done, and face the befitting punishment for it. But that said, this is definitely a movement and it'll take time for justice to prevail and for all of us to learn our lessons and improve.
