Real v/s reel life
The suicide by Bollywood starlet Jiah Khan is disturbing since it denotes the re-emergence of a tragic trend. What is even more worrisome was the attitude of a 12-year-old lad from Sriganganagar district near Jaipur, Rajasthan, who too committed suicide following the news of her death. Reportedly, the boy was depressed after watching news of her suicide. He later brought some DVDs featuring her movies, started watching them, and in the afternoon hung himself from the ceiling fan.
These two related incidents raise some fundamental questions: Why do stars and starlets consider their life so cheap as to discard it when faced with a small setback in life? Do they forget that they can play relevant roles in real life and contribute significantly to the society and set examples for others on how to overcome emotional stress? Or, are they so obsessed with themselves that the pain and sorrow of those dear and near does not mean anything to them?
Most often, an individual scorned or let down in love faces a severe stress for some time, and given proper counselling, he/she would overcome the situation and get back to the normal rhythm of life. In most cases, their life takes a turn for the better, with someone more caring and supportive coming forward to strengthen their personality and make life a lot better than what would have been the case if their rosy affair had culminated in marriage.
Our youngsters should also realize that the larger-than-life persona created around film and sports heroes and heroines are the handiwork of PR experts and image consultants and that reality is far from the image. Rarely would it be possible to emulate the screen image of a film personality. Bollywood itself had given us some down to earth, realistic movies where the romantic imaginations of film fans get shattered in encounters with their superstars. Actors, directors and other supporting personnel create a make-believe world to entertain us, but we must be realistic in our relationships with them.
Reel life is not real life; at best, it is a conditioned version of it. Sanjay Dutt has been projected as an adherent of Gandhigiri in reel life. He has also been (unfairly) projected as a terrorist in real life. The truth lies somewhere in between, since both images are creations of two media. There are actors who have had to face jail terms for a host of crimes and none have been saints. Actors have faced hefty penalties for tax evasion, even involvement in murders and fraud. They are just people ~ good, bad and ugly like the rest of us.
The film industry has been plagued with professional challenges, so much so that back-biting, liaisons with directors and relationships with fellow actors/actresses have emerged an integral part as a recipe for success.
While one can ignore adults getting carried away by the screen deception ~ they are old enough to know better ~ it is a matter of serious concern when teens develop a “crush” on stars and then get traumatized when something happens to their idols. Pig-tailed girls losing sleep over cricket stars losing their wickets or being unable to bowl out celebrity batsmen and 12-year-old boys ending their life because they had an infatuation for an actress who committed suicide does show how we, as parents and as a society, are failing in our duty to extend emotional support to children. Monitoring kids’ preoccupations at this crucial stage of their lives may not be trendy but it is essential.
