Why being famous sucks

This post was due for long time because I just could not jot down all ideas. But an article in Gurgaon times about ‘People who could not handle success’ featuring troubled actors such as Lindsay lohan, Britney spears and the likes filled the dot and it all made sense.

  I always thought why is that, that after getting everything normal person dreams of, celebrities do outrageous things. Some one drove his Audi over people sleeping; some got drunk and abused the guard at a stadium, someone took her life because of a failed relationship. They have everything, what do they long for? Can it be that being rich and famous isn’t that fun?

-  No private life: the biggest price one has to pay for being recognizable is that your private life is brutally taken away from you. Everyone wants to know everything about celebrities and paparazzi’s make sure they are never away from a flash. Publicity, which once begins as a fascination, later turns out to the biggest price you pay for being loved and admired by many.

-   Every action is up for public scrutiny: being in the news makes your actions bare in front of the whole world and it attracts unwanted and often unrequired criticism from people, who normally have nothing to do anything with your daily life. People who you don’t know commenting about your choices in life and expressing their discontent about personal decision can not be comforting no matter how easy going person you are.

-    Having an opinion is a curse: every one wants to know about your opinion on something or the other so it can make news when a celebrity has publically adored/criticized a govt action/public figure or something similar. And since every other person can not agree with you, press and news channel make it their duty to cover every singlt one of them and how you feel about it.

-   Ogling people: Eyes keep following you, no matter where you go, what you do. A simple task like going to market and having your favorite gol gappas or attending a concert of your favorite rock band turns a distant dream because you cannot risk causing a stampede. The ogling eyes never stop, they keep following you everywhere.

-   Random people expect you to be nice to them: Random people keep bumping into you to tell you the same thing, how big a fan they are and how their distant relatives would love to see them in a picture with you. Of course you are a celebrity so you are in a good mood all the time and would love to smile in a pic with them. It doesn’t matter that you have been sitting there for 5 hours waiting for your flight and doing the same thing over and over again. If you say no, you are rude.

-       You will be mocked regardless of your actions: there will be comedians/cartoonists who will make jokes about you, your actions/ your family matters because mocking famous people is easier and you don’t have to explain the joke. One wrong decision and you are the butt of all jokes in the entire country, debates are being organized on news channels and self-made public figures/’close’ friends to suggest you how bad a decision you have taken on national television.

-   Internet is a monster: you realize how big a nuisance a person with a smartphone can be. You suddenly realize how scandalous a single picture with you caught with a weird expression, scratching your back, trying to do anything out of the ordinary can turn out to be once it goes on to internet. And you are helpless trying to explain your stance while everyone is having time of his or her life at your expense. The biggest boon about the Internet turns out to be your biggest nightmare.

-   Number of friends and relatives increase exponentially: number of people who suddenly realize how close you and maternal uncle of their 3^rd cousin’s father were and so you should help them get their work done which normally involves giving a phone call to someone in a decision making position because he mentioned how big a fan he is. The number of people who you should avoid at a family function or a party keeps getting longer day be day until you absolutely can not meet anyone and are labeled rude.

Maybe people who went to the other side of stardom are normal people like us who want the same thing from life. it’s just that they managed to make it big in life. And like everyone, they make mistakes. I am not passing judgments here but the sudden realization about this kind of makes me think that being famous isn’t all that fun. agree/disagree? do comment \m/oO\m/

Aashiqui and Rockstar

It’s been so long since I updated my blog. Primary reason being was my laptop was in hibernation, and with the meager salary I make, took a really long time before I could afford to write again (FUCK YOU APPLE).

*Having watched either of Ashiqui 2 or Rockstar will help you make sense of the post*

  But the good thing is I am back and I am going to discuss movies, 2 to be more precise. I happened to catch ashiqui in theatres and contrary to my expectations, was blown away with the acting/script/execution/story. Its strange because barring 2-3 movies, I have found all of Mahesh Bhatt’s endeavors a little underwhelming because of their weird 2^nd half. Think of a well built dish, perfect in every single aspect but you just can’t put your finger on a single ingredient that is missing, which could have made it legendry. I have that reaction after all the movies.

 But while watching ashiqui, I couldn’t help but compare it with similarly treated, albeit a little underwhelming despite having all ingredients to be a cult and based on a similar plot, Rockstar.

 Remember how you were left unsatisfied after watching rockstar and were left asking for more after credits started rolling.  Apart from the obvious not so good performance by the leading lady, you were sure something was missing. It just didn’t make sense. It was missing soul in spite of  ‘Kun faaya kun’ and it was just not fare. it’s like being first in marathon for 3/4^th of the race and  then collapsing just before the finishing line. Jordan dreaming about it, getting everything he ever wanted and then losing it for heer should have made more sense. that pain, anguish, impatience missed something. SADDA HAQ missed an extra beat. I liked the movie, just couldn’t stop myself from thinking how great it could have been.

  But recent big screen experience, apart from being head banging music, made up for every complaint I had about the earlier tragic love story. The continuous battles, raw insult, need to see the greater good even if it causes some loss, was justified in such hard-hitting manner, it makes your heart break to think the movie Rockstar could/should/would have been. Rahul jaikar cannot see his ladylove paying the price for something he couldn’t appreciate, while Jordan can’t see the whole point of all the fame, success when things are burning inside him.

 Both the protagonists were wrong if looked through the world-wisdomly lens but look at them at a minute level and they are the same. They just yearn to be with the person they love and have different (or similar) reactions to everything, which prevents them from it which might seem weird for normal people but makes perfect sense in their own scheme of things.

Have you watched both movies? Found something similar/different? \m/oO\m/