It’s day 21 of the hunger strike led by Sonam Wangchuk at Jantar Mantar today. One of the most viral kinds of content around this protest has been the posts raising their voice against the lack of accountability from film stars and cricketers.
I really don’t get all this effort over forcing celebrities to be accountable. None of the people questioning their favourite actor or cricketer started idolizing them for their political stance, right? You became a fan of Ranveer for the aura of the characters he played, and you started worshipping Virat for his talent in the game, and maybe for his style, or whatever other reasons you had. But I can bet you that none of those reasons was their political views.
And the people we did pick for their political views, the ones we actually entrusted to be on the right side of things? Those are the politicians. And I see far fewer people asking for accountability from them. You used the only political key you hold in a democracy, your vote, to select people to represent you in the panchayath, the state and central assemblies. Not to pick who your celebrity idol was.
they don’t live in your India
I get that celebrities have a large, loyal audience, one they religiously use to sell pan masala and movie tickets to the common man, and that their voices carry a lot of weight. But you’ve got to understand a few things about these celebrities you’re hell bent on teaching accountability.
A good part of our celebrity population doesn’t live in India, and the ones who do don’t live in your India or mine. Like that famous dialogue from a Mammootty film goes: “കോടിക്കണക്കായ പട്ടിണിക്കാരുടെയും നിരക്ഷരരുടെയും ഇന്ത്യ, കൂട്ടിക്കൊടുപ്പുകാരുടെയും വേശ്യകളുടെയും തോട്ടികളുടെയും കുഷ്ഠരോഗികളുടെയും ഇന്ത്യ.” That’s just our India.
Though it may seem like they live just across town, they live in an India where a single wedding can cost enough to run three IPL seasons or eight Chandrayaan missions. They live in an India where, while you and I are stuck in traffic for the runtime of a Dhurandhar movie, they get to fly right past our heads on a chopper.
We love a rags to riches story, and a good lot of our idols have risen from the same rags we are still pushing our lives through. But you can’t expect our worries to be theirs once they have switched sides and lived in their India for as long as they have. I don’t know what their biggest problems in life are. I can only imagine. But I can bet my most valued possessions that it isn’t leaked NEET papers or the 20% ethanol in the petrol keeping them awake at night. The ones who can afford the ₹18.5 lakh a month rent in Worli can clearly afford to put XP100 in the Ferrari and send their kids abroad for their bachelors.
what they actually have to lose
And you know what they do have to worry about, what I’m guessing is at the top of their list? Being called an anti national or a Pakistani agent, or whatever the new keyword is. And it doesn’t stop at the name calling. It moves on to boycotts of your movies, losing your place in the team, constant ED raids, death threats from a patriotic body of individuals.
So yeah, it might look like a spineless move. You and I are putting up stories and resharing and liking and watching countless reels of the protest, feeling like the warrior champions of the clicktivist movement, and they sit in their high towers not even putting up a story. Not even a story, and I say that knowing full well that’s the bar for activism in our eyes. Because that’s what I did. That’s what my friend Rohan did. That’s what that one celebrity I never really noticed before did, and now I praise her for having a backbone because she shared your reel on her story. What makes you and your idol different here is that they had a lot to lose, and they weren’t ready to lose it.
I know how this comes off as a lame excuse for not supporting your cause. But I had to dump my brain over this, because I keep seeing this pattern. We ask celebrities for accountability while the people who are actually accountable go unnoticed, and the cause itself goes out of focus as we rally behind celebrities to teach them what they should support.
the part where I’m not any better
I’ve used a lot of “I” and “we” here because I’m not pointing fingers at anyone. I’m reflecting on something I’m a part of.
I like my fancy life too much to get out on the street and protest under the scorching sun. So the easiest way for me to convince my conscience that I’m doing something is to shift the blame onto someone more powerful than me, and feel like I accomplished something for my cause because I shared a lot of Insta posts. Instead of realising that I’m as spineless as the ones I’m pointing my fingers at, even without having anything to lose like they do. I’m just as scared of being called an anti national.
