What’s the first thing that comes to mind when one hears ‘Amitabh Bachchan’? The superstar, another rags to riches story, names of multiple movies flashing through your mind.
I bet none of you even bordered upon his involvement in the Panama Leaks case.
His name appeared, along with other notable celebrities like Aishwarya Rai, on the list of people who had created offshore accounts for tax evasion. Surprised? That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
We all know about the Bofors scandal, right? How the Swedish arms manufacturer signed a $285 million contract with India for Howitzer field guns. The Company was accused of paying kickbacks to several politicians in order to seal the deal, and then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was among the accused. Everyone remembers that.
But did we know, another prime accused in the case was, the man who stole our hearts, none other than, Amitabh Bachchan.
He also quietly faded into the background when Amar Singh, close family friend and aide, desperately needed him.
He was thrown out the Samajwadi Party while Jaya Bachchan stayed quiet and accepted another term in the Rajya Sabha. Amar Singh was the one who lifted him from the streets when ABCL failed and saved his house from foreclosure.
Aarakshan, anyone?
Such big names come up in controversies every day and it is everyone else who gets the blame.
He is still our favourite actor and we shall not hear a word against him. After all, how could a God be wrong?
Salman Khan, accused of poaching an endangered species, DUIs and killing more than a couple of people while driving, has not lost one fan. Rather, his following seems to have increased and there is no end to the number of people who stand up to defend him.
Now, I’m not against Big B (Is that even possible?) but, the whole concept of putting some people, who MIGHT not even deserve it, up on a pedestal and, at the same time, someone else, who might seem a little less popular or pretty from behind a lens.
But, we the idiots, have always preferred the clouded lens.
Arvind Kejriwal, a learned IAS officer, who has had plans for so many welfare schemes and the good of the people, has been made a laughing stock. A brilliant man, only remembered for ’49 days’ and a few fiascos, forgotten for the winds of change he brought to the national capital.
It is not anyone’s fault. It is common practice that those who are hidden behind the clouds of fame and fans tend to be enshrined and worshipped.
Sometimes, crowds are fickle minded.
Other times, they aren’t. There are certain acts which get more publicity and reach than required, and some great ones which go unnoticed. And in the process, a single person is subjected to shaming, deserving or not, and while another, with a long list of crimes, goes scot free.
Obviously, we cannot hope for complete extermination of bias and rigidity from the society (Utopian much?), so let’s forget the blame game?
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