The recent Shah Rukh Khan movie Fan has been an eye-opener in many ways. Although it portrayed an exaggerated version of the concept of being star-struck, it does make one think about how important it is to do away with our blinders and see the real picture.
Though it is undeniably easy to be charmed by the personas the celebrities wear onscreen, we are sometimes guilty of stretching this too far and thinking that they are indeed the virtuous, morally sound, almost super-human characters they play out to be.
How naïve!
At the end of the day, a movie star is simply doing their job of “acting”, which may actually be far from his or her real personality. We lose sight of what is mere “perception” and what is the real “identity” of the people we see on-screen.
Do We Prefer Celebrities Over Women Scientists Launching ISRO Missions?
We live in times where we have easy access to information, and therefore are easily predisposed or influenced.
The celebrities – including actors, politicians and sports icons – are not restricted only to our television screens but have transcended to our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds, blinding us of the world that exists beyond all this glitterati.
It is important to choose wisely between what we consume and what we believe. Nevertheless, we cannot stray away from the rationale behind the celebrity gimmicks in the media. In the business of cinema, money hits the tills as long as one is making news. It is an unsaid job mandate that one has to religiously follow.
We find ourselves so caught up with what celebrities are eating, wearing or where are they holidaying because somewhere not-so-deep-down, we want to emulate their lifestyles. On the other hand, what we don’t emulate are the “actually” noteworthy newsmakers like the women who contributed to the successful ISRO lunar mission.
Isn’t that something truly worth celebrating or celeb-like?
Even if their clothes and shoes and hand bags are not much to talk about, their effort towards India’s successful space mission was so memorial. We definitely don’t plaster our walls at home or on social media with their pictures and their lives.
It is imperative to recognise that some professions are just glorified by their very nature. Why should that take the shine away from the other professions and people who are worthy of celeb-ration, if not glamour?
The thought-provoking work by the sculptor who conceptualised ‘The Knotted Gun’ in Turtle Bay, New York or a nifty designer working somewhere in Japan on a transport to beat the traffic congestion, or a gallant soldier, contribute to our society as much, or even more, through the work they do.
Let’s admit it – most of us are entertainment-hungry.
Every fibre of our social constructs these days scream for it. We feel famished and starved unless there is “masala” in the news we watch. Sometimes, infixing celebrity quotient in the news (even if it’s not required) works because it helps get attention from a larger audience, which unfortunately may be difficult to garner otherwise.
Sensationalism Overshadows Real Work
The Tamil Nadu elections for instance looked more like Tollywood celebs’ ramp walk than what it really was – exercising one’s right to vote!
The right to vote belongs as much to a celebrity as to the common man, but there was no trace of that common man in the coverage as it didn’t serve the purpose of sensationalism. But wasn’t every common man who went out in the scorching heat, prioritising elections over everything else; recognising their right to vote and their duty to contribute to the greater good, the hero as well?
These days we are so besotted by glamour, fame and money that we fail to notice the small and big contributions by people who are the catalysts for real change.
A Kerala-based designer, Sharmila Nair, who displayed enough courage to select transgender women to model for her latest sari collection conveyed a strong message for her brand Red Lotus without trying too hard.
Now that is heroic.
That’s the kind of positive chang- making phenomenon that should rightfully gain the spotlight.
Another case in point is an innovative farmer I met in Patiala who decided to continue with the family tradition of farming. However, he aspired to branch out his father’s business into the premium segment of organic farming.
When 6-7 years back, no institute in India provided such niche learning; he went to the US in order to gain sufficient knowledge and expertise around the organic farming process.
He came back to India and revolutionised his parental business in agriculture. He has employed a number of people from the community and is a major supplier of exotic vegetables in the northern region. It sounds like a plot from a movie that would be a massive hit in Bollywood, but the only disarmingly charming aspect of this tale is its very truth.
I may still have my doubts on whether fairy tales exist or not, but I do know real life heroes exist. And it is up to us to look beyond the superficial, and focus on the real.
Make heroes society truly deserves.
It’s time to deconstruct the perceptions, and deliberate on what our heroes must stand for, and then recreate real identities. In essence, look at the bigger picture, which is not to be mistaken for another Salman Khan movie.
(Sanjay Modi is the Managing Director of Monster.com in India, Middle East, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. All views are personal and are not endorsed by The Quint.)
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