The world is a stage. And all men and women are mere actors. - Shakespeare
The impact of movies and movie celebrities can be bewildering to any active agile mind and disturbing on any standards of civilisation. Because many just don’t perceive it as mere entertainment nor understand that the business of entertainment is just another effort to make money. Some moderns even think and go extreme to believe hero worshipped celebrities alone have brains. Especially in Philliphines, Nigeria, India and in some developing countries.
In India, celebrities especially those from film world and the game of cricket, make it big and reach the top of politics and even reach offices of governance with ease and no effort. South of Mumbai in India stays unique with its high pitch movie obsession. As a result, Bollywood guys and gals never miss opportunities to become people’s representatives to Parliament. From Amitabh Bachan, Jaya Bhaduri, Rajesh Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Sunil Dutt, Shabana Azmi, Rekha, Hema Malini, Govinda, Dharmendra, it’s an unending list. Southern states go a step further to ensure that filmi people reach the top of political ladder and Tamilnadu has been singularly outstanding example. It sents only filmi people to the lead the government since 1967. The result of a Dravidian movement that was hailed ironically as reformist. Chief Ministers Annadurai, Karunanidhi, MGR, Janaki, Jayalalithaa were all filmis. Connected to Kollywood. Even CMs in waiting or CM chair aspirants MK Stalin, Vijaykanth, Sarathkumar, Kamalahaasan, Rajnikant, Vishal, Vijay, Seeman belong to the movie world.
What does this status of obsession and hero worship reflect on society? Simple. If ever there existed a society that considers stage actors and dramas on movies and tv sob operas as real it was India. Where people treat screen heroes as real as they do to villains and sirens. Where fantasy was considered factual, dreams as reality and ability to understand and the sensibility of equanimity on real issues become dead and non existent. Where celebrities are considered ultimate intellectuals. Despite no education, values, commitment, training, exposure, movie guys get crowned to decide on the fate of people and nation’s future. A frenzy of mob mentality rules the euphoria and creates an aura around these celebrity leaders. Worse the hatred they spew on competing movie stars sets the standards for barbarism. A society unknowingly but willing to be taken for a ride by celebrities who have no conscience or qualms on inflicting maya on their worshippers who enjoy the sweetness of poison they were asked to consume. Lakhs of fan associations with millions of fan members for filmi celebrities in South India expose the weakness of a society unable and unwilling to take hold of its present or future.
The impact of blind high decibel hero worship of celebrities can be disastrous. From stifling to one’s own creativity to blind belief that someone’s ideas is perfect and without flaws. It means those celebrities are perfect manifestations of humans, some kind of avatars and won’t have faults. They are the ultimate in human values, intelligence and character. It’s okay to be inspired by someone like President APJ Abdul Kalam or Mahatma Gandhi but obsession is never an inspiration. Obsession freezes a person. But no other life can consume your life so much so that you lose your individuality and ability to distinguish facts from fantasy. Anything is unhealthy in extremes. A rabid heart and soul support to a celebrity to lead a political society not knowing the system that formed or deformed him is high risk. The celebrity hijacks your sentiment for his purposes as the gullible hero worshipper’s cultish adoration doesn’t permit introspection on the dangers of celebrity impact. The naive hero worshipper remains in ignorant bliss.
Yes. It’s true that a person understanding or admiration or appreciation of an issue or a person is limited by the level of thinking. This limitation limits the progress and growth of the society. There goes a tamil saying that donkeys cannot relish the smell of camphor. But donkeys can’t distinguish smells between camphor or cow dung either. The average Indian movie lover believes the happenings on a movie as true and real and has this body twisting exhilaration after seeing the favourite matinee idol. Even the skill of movie making or story telling takes a rear seat to watching the star breaking down practical challenges that he encounters in the most dramatic impossible way on a movie. Smashing a dozen people single handedly or running behind a beautiful white skinned girl were traits the common man is made to long for, in the process. To the film watcher, entertainment was not just entertainment and filmi stars were not just paid professionals doing their assigned tasks. They are real. And the real doesn’t exist.
While an average Indian including the rich and successful may think more than twice to enter politics, the celebrities including filmi stars don’t batter an eye lid before joining politics. For them it’s another opportunity given on a platter to reap benefits with apparently no risk or loss or even accountability. What makes them respond this way? What’s the background of these celebrities? What’s the pathology of mind they have? Are there answers to these?
Cinestar crazy India ought to be understood only through the socio political history of this nation. Europeans who arrived on their missions in Super Power India were amazed at the rich culture and civilisation of Hindus. Having decided to rule and plunder India’s wealth, they understood that it is by breaking their sense of belonging to their enormous culture and past achievements, they can hope to rule over India for a long period of time. With gun powder they easily gained success over the physical terrain of India. But to rule over Indians, they realised systemic annihilation of her economy, wealth, culture and heritage is a must. While the plunder took place openly with expensive imports from Europe and huge taxes on local produces, cultural annihilation was a two pronged process. Eliminate proof of past achievements and deride all hindu practices as superstitious, backward and stupid. So education was over hauled, roots cut off, Bible thrust, famines forced and poverty imposed on the world’s wealthiest nation in 17th century by the British. Opium shops dotted the country so starving millions get addicted and became unproductive. Having almost turned a civilisation into a curse, white skinned mercifully allowed movies into India. Soon movies became an alternate entertainment for people apart from procreation.
The numbing of the indian mind obviously started long before films arrived in India. The system of Gurukula which gave the soil 100% education ( not just literacy) was replaced with missionary English education with focus on memorising the syllabus, which crammed information and killed any questioning spirit. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurukula
Whatever was imbibed was considered true and this paralytic modern education suited the Nehru dynasty with the combination of fair skin, western education, suave western habits and disdain for worthless India. Secularism was the new spirit which means the roots nurtured over many centuries will have to be trimmed and cut to appear equal to those foreign to the soil. Despite all these efforts and limitations the attractions to Ramayana, Máhabharatha and other epics could not be removed from the DNA of people but even the movie business based on them ensured actors had more western features and the script turned more dramatic.
The now totally numbed Indians who had begun to admire the white skinned British and even developed self contempt for their own dark skin, looked at films in total awe. So the stars on these films looked more western than Indian and deriding Indian practices appeared revolutionary. Every word of these stars became mantras to the people, people hung on to every letters in their words and actors were not just actors but imagined as mighty real in reality. Despite sime social realism movies called parallel cinema in Bengal and Kerala, masala movies with total disconnect to reality became hits and super hits.
A celebrity is a creation of media to sell itself. To understand celebrity, one needs to understand the purpose and work of media. Pl read earlier posts in which we had proved that media is first and foremost a business and uses even social causes for marketing itself. Without the media, celebrities cease to exist. With the rise in in social media, anyone can rise to be a star if he or she has sizeable followers. Worldwide, sportsmen and filmi stars were considered celebrities in last millennium along with few singers, some rare dancers, some members of dynasties and monarchies. The excessive admiration or hero worshipping has no sanity as celebrities are considered super human. In the 2011 tamil movie, Payanam, a film gets hijacked and a filmi hero was one among the passengers. Some expect him to break the challenge and rescue all but this hero, a coward in real life, shivers before the terrorist- hijackers. This was true in life too. People are disabled and numbed to understand movie guys are average humans with a larger than life picture, with some skills but hardly possess the character and skills to lead a society.
This celebrity addiction especially movie star addiction is analogous to other addictions. Has ruined many families but is hardly spoken about by psychotherapists, psychologists or sociologists. Students are affected, housewives turn obsessive and many adults wake up after its too late. Tamilnadu in doldrums, more than in any other group and misinformation, lies are traded to evoke passions as reasoning is not a forte with Kollywood. A recent movie, Mersal, was a masala of lies against the government yet the democratic Modi Govt failed to curb propaganda against it for fear of being called undemocratic. Result was Modi Govt was described indirectly as authoritarian. Fifty years of dramatic rule by filmi people in Tamilnadu is example of valuable time loss in building a healthier stronger society. Rhetoric, dramatic acts, agitational politics still rule the state but the excuse of Dravidian Drama parties are that Tamilnadu is better than Bihar or even Somalia. That’s the standard of governance. None dare compare with Japan or Germany which scaled heights as economic and social power.
Unless people are slapped out of their narcotic slumber, things will remain the same. Film world has proved to be incompetant with tax evaders, back stabbers, pathetic morals and without formed minds. Democracy in India backfired because of filmi people. Time for Spiritualists, Scientists, Academics, etc to take over politics and clean the gutter. Kollywood or Bollywood should show mercy on people and spare them of their games.
If movie stars are really wonderful, why isn’t that stage artistes, television soap artistes, performers in college and school programs were not considered on par with them? They share the same skills, looks but yet the craze for non movie celebrities pales before movie stars. Filmi fans are indulging in wasteful excercises. Filmi stars are average people but with ambitions. Their ambitions are personal and their real life acting is injurious and deadly to society.
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