The hounding of actor Rhea Chakraborty, being grilled by three national investigative agencies post the reported suicidal death of her former partner and actor Sushant Singh Rajput, by television channels has taken a life all its own. This is in line with similar treatment dished out to celebrities in the past. Cricket may be the most popular sport in the country but celebrity hounding seems to be a close second these days.
The police are conducting their investigation into the circumstances that lead to the purported suicide and its aftermath but a section of the national TV channels has been leading a charge every night baying for blood. This spectacle has invited different kinds of reactions. Once a member of the media fraternity and now a part of the corporate world, Sullivan Noronha expressed his disgust at the way the situation was evolving. He said “I think it's ridiculous how people are this obsessed over an investigation rather than on more important things like the economy. Besides, if an agency has been brought in to investigate a crime, it's solely their responsibility to investigate and not the media or the general citizen. Hounding a suspect is unconstitutional and frankly very disturbing. Suspects are innocent until proven guilty. This wills no doubt cause a lot of mental health issues and if the suspect is innocent, who is going to be responsible for this? I just feel that people need to calm down and let people responsible for their tasks and carry them out”.
Very sane response but there others who felt it came with the territory. “Waznie Neaz felt that celebrities had to be prepared for the rough end of the stick if they were in the public eye. He said” This is the age of a rampant digital media where everyone wants to gain likes and dislikes and this kind of coverage feeds their hunger. If the law has to be broken then yes why not but then there is another side of the story. The tone and the relentless nature of the coverage have been sickening. One cannot but only imagine what the young lady is going through.”
On the flip side of this argument by those who back the grilling of the lady actor is what about what parents of Sushant Singh Rajput went though and their torture.
Kabir Pinto Makhija former Deputy Mayor of Panjim and a part of Goa's social circuit felt it was important to have faith in the judiciary. He said “The investigative agencies should be allowed to carry out their job, the media trial and hounding should stop immediately. Let the law take its own course”.
Musician and casual observer of the celebrity circus Adrian D’ Souza was blunt in his explanation. He said “The workings of the ‘media’ today are based on frivolity and ratings, thereby exploiting the voyeuristic tendencies of its viewers. Based on the flavour of the hour, the media makes celebrities. You never hear complaints from the later. Then they break celebrities. The process is referred to as a circus wherein there are enough clowns in the audience”.
An interesting take was given by Albert Zuzarte who felt people like entertainment and want to know and hear of people they adore and it was obvious people were participating in it wholeheartedly and the news is essentially being created for people and the media will always inform on what the people want to read and hear. He said, “Now with social media platforms available people share their views without any hassle with technology and education having ensured that”.
This is a discussion that will take place repeatedly in the future. Society and the TV media need to know if and when to draw the line