April 20, 2007

India - Obsessed

If you are living in India at this time, there is one thing that you can not avoid. It is in the papers, on the radio, and on almost every channel on television. I do not know if this event is getting any international coverage, but in India it is everywhere. Actually, its been in the news for about an year now.

Aishawarya Rai is getting married to Abhishek Bachhan today.


The names are household names in India, but may not be that well known in other parts of the world. Aishwarya Rai - Miss World in 1995 (I think it was that year) - has acted in a couple of "international" films like Bride and Prejudice, Provoked, etc. and I hear there is a movie due to be out soon with her and Meryl Streep (or was it Uma Thurman) in it. Till now her best claim to international fame was being a member of the jury at the Cannes film festival, where the dresses she wore caused a major storm in India.

Abhishek Bachhan really has nothing to his name except his illustrious father, Amitabh Bachhan, a legend in his own right. With a father like that, a son is always in trouble. Everyone wants to see the son follow his father's footsteps and when he fails, they love tearing him apart. Abhishek's fate was no different. Everyone expected him to act in movies, like his father, and he did that and failed. But then it pays to have a father who is respected and held in awe by the whole Indian movie industry. Despite his failures Abhishek continued to land meaty roles and eventually one day people decided to accept him as a star because, I guess, they finally came to terms with the fact that he was going to keep coming at them.

If you are bored already, which I am sure you are, think of the fate of alomost one billion Indians, who switch on their TV to entertain themselves but are only told that the moment "everyone" has been waiting for has arrived. Now who is this "everyone"? I guess we Indians should look for him and lock him up.

But jokes apart, and before I move on I would like to wish the couple a very happy and a prosperous married life. I am very sure that handling such a strong media focus can't be easy. And the way, they and their families have done it is graceful to say the least.

Which brings us to the most important question. Are we so obssessed with our celebrities that the media has no other option but to invade their privacies to an extent where they have none left at all? Or is it the other way around, with the media interfering in their lives and making it appear so that everyone's attention is grabbed?


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aye to both, Neo. Yes, it's all a massive distraction feeding back on itself to divert us from the real issues in our lives and world.
It's also a demonstration of how a so-called 'meritocracy' is in fact always rife with and ruled by mindless unfair and biased nepotism.

SandyCarlson said...

I've worked in newsrooms, and I'm amused and amazed at the manner in which the news people do not interact with the advertising people. No eye contact. No lunch dates. Nada. What's important and what sells aren't the same things, and the news end always gets the short end of it.

Unknown said...

some coverage can be seen as reported in the (local) papers here in malaysia

not quite that much furor as what you described in india

but sex, sleaze, gossip, etc sells. so...

Blue Panther said...

New Illuminati: I agree!

sandy: I did not know that. Why do you think they act this way?

Stev: You are lucky then!:)

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