Millennial NET-y gritty

They are the brave, bold Indian millenials! They come from privileged backgrounds but discretion is not a part of their vocabulary. These uninhibited teens (also called the Boomerang Generation) live their lives openly on social media. They post candid shots of their hip parties, cool friends and exotic vacations. They cheerily post their selfies, rather unselfconsciously. They record every fun-filled moment with gusto. And they give a damn about online trolls. Try body shaming these celeb kids on Instagram and they are quick to respond with equally acidic remarks. Aryan and Suhana Khan garner instant attention, no matter what they do. Their father is superstar Shah Rukh, who is working towards leading a politically correct life. But his kids are chilled out. Flashy pictures of Aryan Khan driving a swanky sports car in LA or dipping in the pool, flaunting his six packs get instant attention from fans.

Aryan’s dashing good looks has won him a strong fan following. While Aryan’s insta account is private, his fan account has 33k followers. His petite sister, Suhana, has aspirations to become a movie star. While Aryan is considered unapproachable, Suhana sweetly chats with fans on the teen site, ask.fm. However, the willowy Suhana is anything but fragile. Nosy questions get blunt responses. And yes, her most searched at visual was the bikini picture with little bro AbRam on a beach in Dubai. While her miffed dad SRK expressed his ire and fired the media, the little lady seemed unperturbed and continued posting screenshots from her life.

Aryan’s pal Navya Navelli (Amitabh Bachchan’s grand daughter, and Shweta Nanda’s daughter) is also a social media star in her own right, with 150k followers, on her fan accounts. Both these kids studied at the prestigious Seven Oaks School in London. Navya is probably India’s very own “Gossip Girl,” whose glam pictures have earned her a massive fan following in India. Keeping her close company is socialite and brand consultant Kalyani Chawla’s pretty daughter Tahira Tara Chawla, who is studying in a boarding school in London. Tahira has 7,007 followers on her insta account.

Joining this popular bratpack, is their friend and industrialist, Yash Birla’s light-eyed daughter Shloka, who has 19.9k instagram followers.

These celeb kids today believe in facing the storm and bravely following their hearts. They have opinions and strongly voice them online. They will not cower to social pressure and boldly defy convention. They clearly don’t carry the baggage of being their parents’ children. Kaveri Kapur, daughter of Shekhar Kapur and Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, is one such kid who has grown up and blossomed under the spotlight. A few months back, the 15-year-old launched her first song Did You Know, which went viral, generating some rave reviews, and making its way to the Indian top 10. Kaveri’s mother, Suchitra, who is an actress, writer and singer, and quite popular on social media, says, “I don’t think the new generation of kids is trying to be clever or seek attention particularly. They are just themselves and do things with an open-mindedness that doesn’t pander to the hypocrisy or body shaming subverted morality of earlier generations. As for Kaveri, she grabbed attention with her singing and song writing talent and not because of how she dresses or poses. I am not worried for her in that sense — she is a kid totally focused on her music and so, is prepared to take the brickbats that come along with the praise. As for the trolls and pervs online, she ignores them already — they are a waste of everybody’s time.

Pooja Bedi rose to fame after her Kamasutra condom commercial, and she has led a flamboyant lifestyle with a bold take on every issue from liberation to sexuality. Pooja’s daughter is Aalia Eff — her unusual moniker is already a headline grabber. The tall lissome beauty is obviously a very liberated mum who stood by her daughter when she was slut shamed. Pooja states, “I’m proud of my daughter Aalia Furniturewalla as she believes in herself and I will always stand by her. Why the brouhaha about Eff Eff stands for Ebrahim Furniturewalla. Aalia is Guetta Ebrahim Furniturewalla’s daughter. She has the highest number of Instagram followers amongst today’s youth brigade. She’s studying in New York and living life on her terms without any qualms or inhibitions and I will always be proud of her. It’s the day and age of social media, so why not In fact she also advises me on growing my Instagram followers, as I’ve been very lax and laidback about it. I need to start working on my Insta followers. I’m very popular on Twitter though. I have 2.27 lakh followers on Twitter, which is only growing by the day. The only advice I would give Aalia is that she should remember that unfortunately in her era, she has to tread even more carefully than we did in ours. We could be as stupid and goofy as we pleased in the 70’s and 80’s and luckily there’s no record of it all. In today’s modern era, there are digital footprints that we’re creating that can never be erased.”

In comparison, kids of Southern celebs seem a bit more restrained. Sandalwood star Upendra and his actress wife Priyanka’s daughter Aishwarya Upendra, is only on Instagram. “My kids are not on any other social media yet. I think it’s very important to keep a check on the kids when using social media because it’s so open to the public, and so you have to keep a track on what they are putting out. I have been constantly trying to protect my kids from social media like Facebook until a certain age where they can handle media attention and online trolls in a mature manner,” says the cautious mom.

The new age millennials are open to living their lives, unperturbed by the media and public glare, only to garner followers and likes by the millions. Dr G.K. Karanth, a sociologist, says, “As a nation, we have a ready-made mindset. A mindset, which inadvertently accepts succession with a lot of gaiety and obsession. While it’s an interesting trend to see how the new generation of star kids is gauging the vibe of the current day audience, let’s not forget that a massive amount of interest in them germinates only out of the lineage they carry. Anything with a star value is magnetic. So, in my opinion, the popularity and interest around them that’s skyrocketing is just a by-product of the ready-made inheritance. This pumped with the ‘devil may care’ and a happening lifestyle only gives fodder to a star-struck population like ours.”

With inputs from Namita Gupta, Shashi Prasad, Sneha Kalra and Pooja Chandrashekhar