Taunted by fame

The one actress who has been in the news of late is Meghan Markle. Despite being famous in her own right, Markle received undue attention and hate, when it was reported that she is dating Prince Harry.

Stories about her family, her rift with her father, apart from racist and sexist comments started doing the rounds. Things got so bad, that the Royal family released a statement asking the paparazzi to stay away from Markle. This is not new in India either, when Mira Rajput married Shahid, she, too, was subjected to a similar treatment.   

Mira was ridiculed and old pictures of her with her ex-boyfriend were splashed across tabloids. When Anushka Sharma started dating Virat Kohli, the Internet had a field day with it. Also, when Ram Charan tied the knot with Upasana Kamineni, people spoke ill too.

Clinical psychologist C. Shiva Kumar says, “Being associated with a celebrity brings the additional baggage of being in public glare at all times. If a lesser known person is associated with a more popular one, (as in the case of Shahid and Mira), people get curious. Everyone has a past and one must not judge anyone based on just photographs. Feeling hurt with negative reports is obvious but you can’t stop people from talking bad against you. This media scrutiny has always been there and it will remain.”

Professor Aparna Rayaprol, of the Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad feels that the best way to curb this trend is if media does not give publicity to such stories or negative comments. She says, “I’d call this behaviour voyeurism of the elite. These people should not be given any importance  by media or the celebrities themselves, and the issue should not be played up.”

Interestingly, Upasana Kamineni, who has come under such an attack in the early phase of her married life, takes it sportingly and doesn’t pay much heed to such comments. “Everyone has an opinion but they should keep it to themselves. People should also keep a positive attitude. It is not really tough to deal with something like this because life keeps throwing challenges at you, and you have to take them in your stride. If they’re talking, it means they are possessive about their star,” she says.

— With inputs from Reshmi Chakravorty