For whom the bell trolls

Online trolls and viscous comments on celebrity posts aren’t uncommon. While several talks of bringing about stringent policies to block and reprimand veiled bullies are on, looks like celebrities are gearing up to take things into their hands. Recently, a bunch of nit-picky Twiteratti kicked up an ugly storm when a picture of Mahira Khan, the Pakistani actress taking a smoke break with Ranbir Kapoor, in a backless white dress, began doing the rounds. Lucky for her, a bunch of Bollywood stars intervened to defend the actress. It began with Ranbir, who pulled a fast one by stating that, “Hate and smoking are both injurious to health” and opined how his colleague was being targeted only because she’s a woman. Soon to follow was actor Zareen Khan who also commented, “Everybody has an opinion... as if they’re out to... correct the world.” Even Nidhhi Agerwal was trolled for revealing cleavage in a picture. To which the young feisty actress responded,  “I really don’t care and I am not rattled at all. Think of it, these trolls are only making me popular.” While stars maintained a dignified silence in the past, seems like they aren’t ready to let it go unnoticed anymore. An earful just in time or making way to nip a rather startling trend, we look deeper... 

“The Internet has given trolls the comfort of anonymity. All their inner devils come out as they go about displaying misogyny and social prejudices. Then there is a second kind of troll. The attention-seeking ones, who haven’t achieved much in their own lives. The achievement of anyone makes them feel inferior. So they try to get their 15 seconds of fame by ridiculing and maligning celebs,” states filmmaker K.M. Chaitanya. For actress Shwetha Srivatsav, it is just about sieving the good. “People tend to get intrusive about your private life when you are a celebrity, and it’s the cost of stardom. Personally, I’m grateful for the love and the warm messages, and I ignore the rest. People who talk negatively online are anonymous individuals with a low self-esteem, desperately craving for some online visibility, only putting on a ‘mean’ exterior. As much as it’s wise enough to ignore them; pulling them out also helps just to flag potential bullies away. My take would be either to completely overlook what they have to say, or go full throttle and ensure you are completely off the radar henceforth.”