With Kangana, Rhea making prime-time headlines, grave issues get sidelined
On one side, it’s a starlet embroiled in drug charges, while on the other is a motor-mouthed, self-proclaimed ‘queen’ dishing out dirt at her fraternity.
Rhea and Kangana are two sides of the same coin. While one remains in public eye, being blamed for supposedly plotting the death of her beau, the other thrives in the limelight by heading a determined campaign to expose what she calls the movie mafia.
On the wings is the ‘cheerleader brigade’, egging on these publicity princesses, milking the situation for all its worth. The public’s love or hate isn’t going to cost them their peace.
The Rhea-bashers are swirling their glasses of wine in joyous celebration, little realising that she is bound to wriggle out of the tight position she currently finds herself in, saying it was a ‘forced confession’!
And ‘Team Kangana’, which has become a brand of its own thanks to the erratic and often provocative tweets, will move onto the next ‘campaign’ as audiences will be fighting her leftover battles.
The point is, to these two actors, any situation is momentary and will be used for garnering publicity of mammoth proportions. And both Kangana and Rhea are riding towards making the most of this publicity.
Kangana’s gutsy decision to step into Mumbai despite the backlash that her slicing tweets have been receiving goes to show that she has taken her movie titles too seriously. The supposed ‘queen’ of Indian filmdom has now thrown herself in the thick of the political fracas.
What they said
Actress Khushboo Sundar seems to be as disgruntled with the state of affairs in the Indian airwaves.
“There are such pressing issues in our country today. COVID-19 and China are two Cs looming large. And our economy shows no signs of improvement. Yet, we are fixated on jarring headlines dissing one girl and hailing another,” says Khushboo.
According to Varun Sardesai, a policy advisor and political analyst Rhea has already been judged a criminal thanks to overzealous and crazy TV anchors. However, he doesn’t think any of this will affect her later on.
“Once the next big thing on TV breaks, Rhea will be forgotten and eventually she will have movies and a career. There is a lot of sympathy for her now and a previously lesser-known actor will now gun for the big league,” he points out.
“To be honest, though, at this point, Kangana sounds merely like a bag of sour grapes, who is ranting and raving to remain in the news. Neither her disclosures nor sensational TV interviews can implicate anyone. Courts go by solid proof, not a pretty damsel dishing out dirt.”
However, even as Sumithra Chauhan, BJP’s firebrand leader from Haryana, shares her concerns for the Queen actress, she believes Kangana has a future.
“There is a lot of concern among the people about how the establishment in Maharashtra is bulldozing its way to destroy Kangana. Her voice and passion both are being received well. She has a future both in films and public life,” adds Sumithra.
Actress Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, who is known for her forthright views, appears nonchalant about the cycle of events. “I feel these instances will be in public memory for a very short span. Each one of us tends to capitalise on the media attention and it’s natural,” she states.
