Richa Chadha and her controversial tweet. Firstpost
A celebrity from the film industry cannot escape the spotlight. If the person has to travel and hence has a casual ‘airport look’, getting clicked by roving photographers is inevitable. Writers on fashion follow suit, spotting a Gucci bag, a pair of Versace jeans, and a Rolex watch. Repeating an outfit or an accessory gets noticed, resulting in juicy reportage and social media posts.
Celebs, too, do what they can to be in the news. Fully aware that disappearing behind an opaque screen of privacy after their films get released makes little sense in modern times, most are active on social media platforms where they post photographs and share their thoughts with their fans — and others, too.
News gets created moments after an actor steps out of the house or posts something online. And, one slip-up can lead to a torrent of criticism no celeb can control.
Richa Chadha’s mistake
Bollywood’s history of faux pas is well-known. Actor Richa Chadha joined the list of erring names from the past after tweeting ‘Galwan says hi’ in response to a Twitter user who had tweeted the statement of Lt General Upendra Dwivedi, “We’re fully prepared to take back PoK from Pakistan. We are waiting the orders from the govt. We will complete the operation quickly. Before that if Pakistan is violating the ceasefire, the answer will be different, even they cannot imagine.’- Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command IA (sic)”.
What made Chadha tweet ‘Galwan says hi’, which allegedly shows no regard for the sacrifices made by the Indian Army in the Galwan military confrontation between India and China? An elaborate apology from her that has followed, no matter how heartfelt, will not erase the memories of those three words.
Visibility is a mixed blessing
Celebrities do not hide behind anonymity, a mechanism many ordinary mortals use to post what they do without getting identified. While outfits worn by familiar faces can lead to memes, saying something inappropriate leads to hostile reactions on social media.
Nobody needs contempt-laced publicity, which often spills beyond social media, and a highly visible celebrity is not an exception.
Internet never forgets
Standup comedian Kapil Sharma, also an actor in a few films, had unleashed a tweet in 2016, “I am paying 15 cr income tax from last 5 year n still i have to pay 5 lacs bribe to BMC office for making my office @narendramodi (sic).” In a second tweet, he had asked, “Yeh hain aapke achhe din? @narendramodi (sic).”
Sharma expressed his regret later, but the fact that he had crossed the limit and directed his complaint at the Prime Minister hasn’t been forgotten.
Ghosts from the past return to haunt celebrities. The Internet never forgets.
Commercial impact
The hashtag #BoycottFukrey3, a Twitter movement for boycotting the upcoming film Fukrey 3 featuring Chadha, started trending after the ‘Galwan says hi’ tweet. Can it impact the film’s box-office performance? It can, a definite possibility in the case of the Aamir Khan-starrer Laal Singh Chaddha for his comment in 2015.
Speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism awards, Khan had reportedly said: “When I chat with Kiran” (his former wife) “at home, she says, ‘should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm.”
Many disliked the actor’s opinion on the country’s social climate. The comment re-emerged before the release of Laal Singh Chaddha, leading to calls of #BoycottBollywood and #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha.” Many potential viewers swore not to see the film, a decision they declared loud and clear on Twitter.
Fukrey 3 might get hurt, too, when criticism of Bollywood for its inability to please the viewer is anyway on the rise.
Moral
Not everybody says sorry. Those who do must remember that an expression of regret cannot undo the damage inflicted by negative public opinion. That’s a lesson Bollywood needs to learn — right now.
The author, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature and pop culture. Among his books are ‘MSD: The Man, The Leader’, the bestselling biography of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, and the ‘Hall of Fame’ series of film star biographies. Views expressed are personal.
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