Celebrities Famous or Infamous?

By: Arya Aiyappan
Friday, January 05, 2007
Fame, success and wealth come with a penalty - the penalty of being under constant surveillance with every eye keeping vigil of your dealings. Celebrities often have to endure the media eyes prowling behind their day-to-day activities. Hard-earned fame and success is at stake every moment a wrong move is made. Every field (film, politics, sports, business, etc) is manifest with problems.

Money power and muscle power gives one an edge over the others. Celebrities today can dictate the norms of the day. Even when involved in scandals or other issues they manage to go scot-free by their sheer influence. Sometimes the reverse holds true when being a celebrity can land them in a precarious situation. What needs to be unearthed is whether the celebrity status works towards their advantage or disadvantage. These days' celebrities have acquired a cult like image. Controversies cloud their lives and while every move is closely scrutinized sometimes a dash of spice is added to make it sell. Exaggeration and manipulation enjoys a free hand.

The controversy bug has smote leading personalities many a time. Salman Khan is forever wooing controversies roughing up the media, misbehaving with his girlfriends, the black buck poaching case, underworld connections, an accident involving culpable homicide, etc of which his turbulent relation with Aishwarya Rai has been the talk of the town. Sanjay Dutt's Tada case, Fardeen's cocaine controversy, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi's hunting of an endangered black buck, and the hullabaloo at Sabarimala in the south regarding Kannada actress Jaimala and 'Mayuri girl' Sudha Chandran's entry into the shrine have all sparked up debates over the issues. Needless to say politicians are drawn in many scandals concerning top priority issues and so also sports personalities are caught up in doping cases, match fixing, etc.

These janus faced problems bring to mind a common concern of how most of the celebrities escape from the long hands of the law easily by sheer influence and money power. As soon as a problem crops up, within minutes the entire episode is hushed up leaving no trace behind. One seriously doubts the credibility of the law enforcing and law abiding agencies at work to wonder whether the Goddess of Justice is indeed blind or rendered blind. The discrepancies and bias works cleanly and the common man suffers while those holding high-profile posts and enjoying a celebrity status easily escape the clutches of law. Does money dictate the judiciary? Or Are the celebrities a cut-above the rest?

Fame and glory never come alone but has baggages attached to it. The price has to be paid. Celebrities hardly enjoy privacy with the paparazzi spying on them. Princess Diana could hardly dodge them, as Preity Zinta rightly remarked public figures are under scrutiny and every eye is focused on them thus targeting them. Their private life is laid bare to the public by the media whose misinterpretations make life topsy-turvy. Saif Ali Khan's extra marital affair, Aamir Khan's second marriage, John Abraham-Bipasha affair, Karishma Kapoor's divorce, 'item girl' Rakhi Sawant's kissing storm by Daler Mehendi's younger brother Mika, Hrithik Roshan's onscreen kiss, Aishwarya's visit to a Darga and her secret marriage with Abhishek Bachchan are sensational topics with the public passing their own verdict.

Celebrities enjoy some civil liberties and privacy is their birthright. Punishment and crime go hand in hand, none can be above the law, be it a celebrity.

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