The politics of selfie love

Love aaj kal is blossoming. Specifically, and quite spectacularly, on Twitter, where Bollywood biggies have been tweeting selfies with Narendra Modi. Appended to these smile please photos are mushy messages about the honour of posing with the honourable PM.

Karan Johan, Salman Khan, Kangana Ranaut and Akshay Kumar have been among Modiji’s happy and regular Bollywood posers for long. But there are some Johnny-come-latelys to this selfie lovefest that’s known to restore stars’ self worth.

In 2015, Aamir Khan talked about rising intolerance in Bharat. Incredible India frowned and dropped his mug. Modiji has since been the face of InIn, and Khan a regular at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, to pose and post selfies. Last Saturday it was the turn of Shah Rukh Khan, who too, in 2015, was all negative and anti-national when he spoke of religious intolerance taking us away from achche din.

A month later, his film flopped and he quickly went on to make serious amends. First he said, I never said. Then he said, I am a proud Indian. And then he almost made Rajat Sharmaji weep on TV by saying, kabhi kabhi I feel like crying when the likes of Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP general secretary, say my heart lies on the wrong side of the LoC.

But now that he has tweeted his first selfie with PMji, and has been given homework to complete and submit soon, things should look up.

But it seems PMji’s love for Bollywood is making southern stars suffer acute bouts of FOMO. Upasana Konedelaji, daughter of Chiranjeevi and missus of Telugu star Ram Charan, got her langa voni in a twist over this northern bias and cutely complained to Modiji, suggesting that he look at stars beyond the Vindhyas.

Given that Modiji is so busy, it’s not easy to take time out for selfies with all stars. He does so only to keep up the nation’s josh and everyone in the service of Bharat Mata. Yet, we believe, Modiji listens to everyone’s mann ki baat and tries to adjust.

The lawns of the PM’s bungalow will soon be lit up for stars from the unconquered South. So all Tollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood worthies must keep their kanjivarams and crisp mundus ready for an outing with PMji, to pose, praise and post.