IN UNISON – ACTORS, POLITICS AND
SOCIAL MEDIA
The systems
governing film Industry and politics are diverse, be it on theoretical ground
or practical, we worship film actors in movie dramas perpetually, whereas most
of the politician’s allure is short lived. In real life, actors generously
present themselves as exceptionally marvellous to public which is ignorant about
what lies underneath actors screen life, beliefs and values. Perhaps same goes
for most of the politicians as well. Whereas most of the actors lead an
affluent lifestyle, the politicians on the other hand try to lead a simple
lifestyle outwardly.
Our
obsession with actors is etched in our subconscious, whatever deplorable
values/ vices they may have in real life, are hidden deep in our psyche. However,
in our thought, the artist is a demigod exhibiting tremendous mannerisms on
silver screen, literally worshipped and idolized for some of dramatic portrayals.
Such actors know how to glorify themselves with their own creative formulation
and fabricated acts in the vision of masses. With fame, money and public
adulation, some of them are driven to taste power which is rooted in Indian politics.
As we all know their participation in Indian politics has had minimal impact
except for some South Indian actors whose contribution and popularity in
politics is legendary.
The stardom,
movies, and the paladin image of the actors getting into political arena, raises
questions, ‘What purpose do the actors serve politically or socially? Are they astute politicians? Are the interests
and actions significant enough to influence the society and the global
relations?’ These are the questions that we constantly contemplate and it is
true that we have become accustomed to such familiar debate. In broader
perspective the actors do serve social causes with movies that define and modify
our society. We can’t censure them as some of our own political commanders’
lack education, character and integrity. It is not always clear that an actor joins
politics with his/ her own moral choice and conviction or they are coaxed by
the politicians to increase party’s popularity.
As we have seen
many movie actors affiliation with politics, Sunil and Nargis Dutt,
Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha,
Hema Malini, Kiron Kher (the list is a bit long). Oft people have forgotten
their positive political contribution and the work gets trivialized by the
‘filmi’ news and gossip in the media.
Dev Anand
was inspired by late South superstar MG Ramachandran; however, he couldn’t conform
to the world of politics and went back to film making. In South India, many from
the cinema became strong politicians, MG Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa, NTR and a
few more, some launching their own political parties and movements, becoming
famous with their work and leaving indelible mark.
We have been
familiar with their success and failure in political arena, where they entered
public service without overall capacity to determine their purpose and interest
in the political mission. It’s true some have been genuinely committed, Nargis
and Sunil Dutt served the Nation with their work, commitment and dedication. Ajanta
Arts troupe was first to perform stage shows at borders for inspiring and
strengthening the morale of Indian troops and continued to do so for many
years. Sunil Dutt was a Sheriff of Mumbai in 1981 and a Minister of Youth Affairs
and Sports later, however, was known more for the exceptional work he did in his
constituency.
Actress
Raveena Tandon, not long ago stated that she did not join politics because ‘the
top politicians are abusing each other openly and there is no respect left.’
Perhaps this is the same perception of others in her fraternity, but in the
present scenario of intolerance, they do not feel confident and fear that their
forthrightness may be construed wrongly.
Earlier
times, the actors were nominated as candidates by political parties
to defeat their strong rivals, a trend that continues till today. However now a
day’s many actors are mobilized by the political parties for campaigning with
the sole objective of attracting crowds and public opinion. As always, with
mass hysteria about them, some actors are perpetually in the public orbit for
political parties and we naively yield with elation to this commercial hype. It
may amuse us to see some on social media endorsing political ideas and ‘professing’
that they are apolitical, and our mind is not far away from certainty that they
are actually endorsing a particular Party.
Now a days a few movies are being made with explicit political motives and released just ahead of elections, though story telling is an art, political movies are being made all over the world and should definitely be made as cinema is a powerful tool for history and historians.
Presently the
phenomena of engaging popular star power is actively utilized by media houses
as well. All the national conclaves seem to have compulsory film actors’ attendance
in the name of culture. Is cinema the lone representative of culture in India?
Last year, a director who is renowned for conducting controversial interviews
and quizzing his guests with unsavoury questions was the presenter and
interviewer in one of the prestigious Economic Summit. Was he qualified to
present the best Indian economists, ministers and industrialists? Was there no
accomplished economist available to anchor? With media, technology and money overpowering
our society, some so called glib movie icons are being made to be the ‘the Know
All’s.
Another
aspect of political and public life has arisen with the explosion of social
media. Cyberspace has changed the dialogue, rattling mercilessly on its platform
has become everyone’s natural right, where it is supposed to connect every human,
making everyone a universal citizen, however it has polarized the society and Nations by allowing people to unabashedly, blatantly and viciously troll each
other. The simple comments and observations of celebrities sometimes get
mercilessly trolled and then are highlighted by media, leading to fractionation
of the society and stifling any rational discussion or debate among people.
Recently, Priyanka Chopra was criticized on social media for her simple statement and other
celebrities are also victim of this disgusting spectacle and getting bombarded
with most foul language. Some months back, dream girl Hema Malini was
criticized by people for her dance performance on stage and others are similar
victims of such frivolous public pettiness. The mentality of trolls critically commenting
on every issue/ event and resorting to personal character assassination of the
celebrity shows how reprehensible and abominable they are. Is this the new
culture and ethos of human race?
How even
ordinary happenings/ news are transformed by broadcasters and giant goblins to
verbalize their treasured attacking addiction. The Nation wants to know, ‘What
about the sense and sensibility of the public being showered with this kind of
abusive, derogatory and scornful language?’ The Nation wants to know, who has given
them the legitimate right to judge humans? Are the broadcasters, news channels,
social media, or trolls the new magistrates? Otherwise with their masterly
command of expletives and the destructive minds ,they will continue to contaminate
and polarise the society. We hope civility is not obliterated and the saner
sense is spread by the celebrities to improve the society.
We wish that
an actor’s passion for films and art is replicated in his political
and public service as they have enormous impression on the Indian masses and psyche,
they should not bother about certain section of society which is divisive and
irrational, maybe irritatingly intrusive at times. As films and art are inclusive and do not
target only one section of society, similarly the film fraternity with their actions
and statements should strive to bring about reforms, be it in politics or social
media.
The
relationship of film fraternity and politicians should not arouse melodramatic
emotions as their objective of transmission of social and economic betterment
from all mainstream platforms, if implemented, will remain in our sub
conscious for decades and contribute to perfection of political and social agenda.
Anuradha Singh
March 9th, 2019
March 9th, 2019
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