Stars and messiahs

There was a time no so long ago, when Bollywood actors after retiring from films either went bankrupt, or led quiet lives in lavish bungalows, appearing occasionally in award functions and parties.Some of them of course bagged election tickets and were often seen roaming around their constituencies in khaddar. The world of cinema however has changed since. With production houses trying hard to meet viewers' demands by releasing as many films possible and newer faces being launched on celluloid every other friday, competition is getting tougher for actors old and new. What with all the botox they can find, it becomes difficult to continue to command allegiance in the quicksand of stardom and fanaticism unless you are also in control of capital and is part of  the production and marketing machinery. So, our actors venture into businesses. They launch production and distribution companies, get into real estate, buy sports franchise, launch fashion labels, chain of spas and so on. And most of them turn out to be pretty good at that. So much so that they learn all the tricks of trading in India like shady deals, violating tax regulations, etc. In short, they learn the ropes pretty quick. Now there's nothing wrong in doing business or making profit, is there? possibly not. In violating the country's business laws? There is, but then such violations are committed by thousands of other smaller and bigger business houses.

And then, reeling from the success of their films and businesses, they finally attain the last stage of stardom - they turn messiah. They take on the government, shed tears for rape survivors, tell everyone what is right and what is wrong with the system. All this while they also grace Amar Singh's police show, endorse fairness creams and promote every bit of the mysogyny bollywood showers its audiences with, by choosing to play the godly husband to twenty year olds. In the meantime when the Enforcement Directorate sends notices to inquire into shady business deals and the they get overtly conscious about the rottenness of the system.

Take for instance Shahrukh and Amir Khan(s). While the former will be busy counting collections for Dilwale around the weekend, the latter rests peacefully having by now generated sufficient curiosity for his upcoming Dangal.

Both of these self-proclaimed messiahs however strictly adhered to the 'silence is golden' theory when law took its course and set Salman Khan free for running over a bunch of poor footpath dwellers.

So much for solidarity eh!