Are Celebrities Public Property

The dust has finally settled over the event of the Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding and various thinkers and writers are giving the stocks of what went right and what went wrong. For instance, Shobha De rues over the fact that the journalists were manhandled at the wedding and she thinks the poor things didn’t deserve this ignominy. About the journalists she writes:

They are the ones who have contributed hugely to the creation of the highly profitable Amitabh Bachchan brand\myth. And clicked away when the going was good, or more importantly, even when it wasn’t. Ditto for the entire high profile parivaar involved in the wedding. It is largely thanks to our energetic, occasionally over-enthusiastic lensmen that all the Bachchans have received national\international coverage on a mega scale.

Then, about the icons she opines:

Icons are owned by the public. They are created by the public and belong to the public. In my book, they owe the public. A big one, at that. We, in India are sentimental and emotional about weddings (and funerals). We don’t understand the new fangled rules that govern celebrity events. We sincerely want to participate in the joys and sorrows of those we bestow such unconditional love on. Like Aishwarya and Abhishek.

Somehow I can never understand this “icons are owned by the public” mentality. I think nobody owns nobody and the icons too have their personal lives and they too have rights to privacy. I don’t think we make them the icons, they become icons by doing what they do. I mean, why isn’t Deepak Prashar an icon, or why couldn’t Aruna Irani be the dream girl instead of Hema Malini or why doesn’t Johny Lever enjoy the same adoration as Rhitik Roshan? Icons become icons because of their inherent qualities (or characteristics).

We are highly selfish when it comes to our icons. Just look at the way our cricketers were recently treated. Dhoni’s house was demolished. Kaif’s family had to flee the town. The same guys become gods when they score runs and take wickets. As a highly self-serving society, we only bow to the rising sun, otherwise, given a chance we even make fun of or disregard Mahatma Gandhi, the biggest icon one can think of.

Amitabh Bachchan is a super star because the way he has catered to the emotions of the masses. His acting is at par with any international star you can name. He is highly erudite and he carries himself about with great élan. There are actors in the film industry who are far better looking (for instance, Dharmendra) than Amitabh but still could never match his charisma and dedication. So he has earned his iconic status all by himself and he owes his success neither to the media nor to the press. No icon does.