Celebrities and silly season
It had to happen some day or the other. Globalisation brings in not only economic interdependency but a host of other things as well.Some of these things are alien to our milieu and it would take some time to get used to it. Of course, these have been confined to urban masses as things stand.
The obsession with celebrities is one such import. I have read somewhere that seats were sold for Pd Stg 1000 each to fans and public ( of course dinner was served ) for Victoria Beckam- David Beckam marriage reception. There is nothing wrong in making hay while sun shines and selling seats at the marriage reception is one such opportunity.
There is an obsession with celebrities ( read film stars and good looking sports persons - on this count, PT Usha would have never made the grade ) with TV channels giving minute by minute coverage and newspapers also spending reams of paper. Suddenly such celebrities have become opinion leaders on anything and everything under the sun.
Amir Khan has become "scholar" and "education" celebrity after the movies "Tare Zameen Par" and "3 idiots" hit the jackpot.He has made many more statements than what Kapil Sibal would manage in his five year term as HRD Minister. Somebody writes a script and Amir Khan mouths it only to become an expert in the vast subject of education for challenged kids and college education and relevant aptitude. In a lighter vein, if Amir had spent time usefully at university as a student, he might not have landed in his current vocation !
There is Big B talking on everything from social attitude to patriotism. Priyanka Chopra has also jumped into the band wagon espousing the cause of going green to save the planet.Sachin Tendulkar with his squeaky voice also tells a lot of things which he might not be able to comprehend. Lata Mangeshkar stands for patriotism - of course, one has to sing in Hindi to sound and appear patriotic. AR Rahman became a patriotic symbol after his "Vande Mataram" song in Hindi. I doubt whether he would have made it as a national celebrity by singing a Tamil patriotic song.
There is no business like show business as the saying goes. We are almost there. Three cheers for that.
Celebrity marriages can not be far behind. Alas most of the celebrity pairs got married before the celebrity craze caught on. So we had to make do with likes of Rakhee Sawant and Rahul Mahajan trying to find a spouse to get " married". There was a lot of noise and news coverage about Shilpa Shetty's wedding. It is not her acting skills which helped in this but the Jude Goody affair suddenly made her a symbol of patriotism. Mahatma Gandhi was fortunate to be born a century and half ago and do what he did. He would not stand a chance against Amitabh Bachan, Shilpa Shetty and their ilk if he was around now.His teachings and postulations would need a brand ambassador if he was in action now !
Now it is the turn of Sania Mirza to hog the limelight and not for her prowess in the game of tennis. Our tennis star has not got beyond second round in any major international tournament in the last few years but continues to be a national celebrity with a modern attitude. It is her second attempt to close in on a life partner which has been the hot news for more than week now. An Indo-pak war,if it had to happen now, would not have got as much coverage as the Sania Mirza- Shoaib Mallik saga. I have learnt the procedural aspects of Muslim marriage thanks to Sania.
It is not silly season. Life itself is becoming silly.
The obsession with celebrities is one such import. I have read somewhere that seats were sold for Pd Stg 1000 each to fans and public ( of course dinner was served ) for Victoria Beckam- David Beckam marriage reception. There is nothing wrong in making hay while sun shines and selling seats at the marriage reception is one such opportunity.
There is an obsession with celebrities ( read film stars and good looking sports persons - on this count, PT Usha would have never made the grade ) with TV channels giving minute by minute coverage and newspapers also spending reams of paper. Suddenly such celebrities have become opinion leaders on anything and everything under the sun.
Amir Khan has become "scholar" and "education" celebrity after the movies "Tare Zameen Par" and "3 idiots" hit the jackpot.He has made many more statements than what Kapil Sibal would manage in his five year term as HRD Minister. Somebody writes a script and Amir Khan mouths it only to become an expert in the vast subject of education for challenged kids and college education and relevant aptitude. In a lighter vein, if Amir had spent time usefully at university as a student, he might not have landed in his current vocation !
There is Big B talking on everything from social attitude to patriotism. Priyanka Chopra has also jumped into the band wagon espousing the cause of going green to save the planet.Sachin Tendulkar with his squeaky voice also tells a lot of things which he might not be able to comprehend. Lata Mangeshkar stands for patriotism - of course, one has to sing in Hindi to sound and appear patriotic. AR Rahman became a patriotic symbol after his "Vande Mataram" song in Hindi. I doubt whether he would have made it as a national celebrity by singing a Tamil patriotic song.
There is no business like show business as the saying goes. We are almost there. Three cheers for that.
Celebrity marriages can not be far behind. Alas most of the celebrity pairs got married before the celebrity craze caught on. So we had to make do with likes of Rakhee Sawant and Rahul Mahajan trying to find a spouse to get " married". There was a lot of noise and news coverage about Shilpa Shetty's wedding. It is not her acting skills which helped in this but the Jude Goody affair suddenly made her a symbol of patriotism. Mahatma Gandhi was fortunate to be born a century and half ago and do what he did. He would not stand a chance against Amitabh Bachan, Shilpa Shetty and their ilk if he was around now.His teachings and postulations would need a brand ambassador if he was in action now !
Now it is the turn of Sania Mirza to hog the limelight and not for her prowess in the game of tennis. Our tennis star has not got beyond second round in any major international tournament in the last few years but continues to be a national celebrity with a modern attitude. It is her second attempt to close in on a life partner which has been the hot news for more than week now. An Indo-pak war,if it had to happen now, would not have got as much coverage as the Sania Mirza- Shoaib Mallik saga. I have learnt the procedural aspects of Muslim marriage thanks to Sania.
It is not silly season. Life itself is becoming silly.
Well, what do I say abt the media- sensationalization seems to be the in thing!! News hours have turned into soap operas, cinema highlights, fashion reviews,.... From Dhoni's idea of a perfect date to Obama's "Mommy " Jeans, everything seems to make it to the News. The term breaking news has been grossly undermined by using it for "SHONIA", "Twitter" updates etc... Is this what the fourth estate is meant for??? Or are we being extremely critical of the Media-- afterall, they wouldnt thrive if we didnt embrace what they serve us!!!
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