Sridevi Laid to Rest… But the Dark Side!
P.S. No it’s not media – it’s YOU!
India woke up to an extremely heartbreaking news on 24th February 2018 a Saturday, Sridevi no more. Everybody was stunned, shocked, thrilled, shaken and traumatized by the news. Unfortunately she breathed her last in Dubai and her mortal remains had to go through a lot of turmoil to reach India. They fought a huge battle and went through autopsy and investigations before her family and friends could bid her a final goodbye after 4 days since her death. The autopsy report raised a lot of questions and the curious devastated fans could not get relevant and proper answers that could calm them down. Which rose a lot of speculations and innumerable questions. There was no official statement that may have shut a lot of ugly mouths. Off course the circumstances were such that nobody is liable to be answered for any questions as it is none of our business. The family was mourning and it was a tragic death. But such a silence gave way to the media to create stories and possibilities which insulted the dead as well as the grieving family. No denial there. But the dark side was the people fueling in all the power to the media. Yes the fraternity that was ‘missing’ their star and finding every small pic to post in her memory and the fans who were encouraged by these stars.
Instead people could have just avoided the media. But they all believed in giving opinions. Did journalism die or was on ventilator was also not your business. By abusing and posting journalism’s death all of these mourners dug their own low and proved that there is no difference between the media and them. In fact what did they all want to prove that the media is useless? Would these media houses shut their offices as you criticized them? Would they apologize to you for all they said or did? What media did for Sridevi is what you did for these less important souls. Probably nobody really bothered until everybody wanted to use the trending hashtags in their tweets. Nobody missed on #LetHerRestInPeace. And after all the bashing at the end everybody tuned in to these news channels to watch her funeral and final journey.
The problem is we all have taken the freedom of speech too much for granted. And social media supports it. It is not just we as people but the media and business too who use this freedom to talk over than what is expected. The everyday disaster managers or the reputation managers could have just released a statement denying the news or ‘stop the speculations’ notice. But in such situation nobody should dare to talk is the rule of emotions and we respect that. As public figures now a days the media gets a big room to write and talk about these celebrities. So eventually what happens is, in an unfortunate circumstances like these they treat them as the same and forget to maintain the dignity of the person and present state. This is because of the silence like the one Kapoor family maintained which let the allegations pour out. The way a celebrity carries its stardom is very self-seeking. They do it as and when needed. A private person will not let anything personal come out and demonstrate in public. And there are stars who maintain that secrecy. Some open and close the doors as per convenience. Closed doors are always better to maintain the balance. But our stars also want to make a statement at airports and lunch and dinner dates. We should not forget the fact that it is the same media that has made a public figure out of them and the same people pose anywhere anytime if the cameras are around. If the family had made all the arrangements for even fans to see her a last time then this official statement wasn’t a big deal. Again respecting their decisions, condition and privacy. But the people would have appreciated the move and gave out more condolences and enough space. What happened is the other way round. Media took away all the limelight and fraternity paid its respect by criticizing the media. Thanks to our so called industry and its fans who chose to talk about the media more and Sridevi less. Instead these mourners could just write about their memories with her, flood the social media with a lot of her interviews, best scenes, positive thoughts and some inspirations she gave, it would overshadow what the media rubbished about her. At that time Sridevi was more important than anything else but media won. If you observed even the family did not comment on media though they have indirectly mentioned about it. But there wasn’t any direct attack on them. They all know that media is the reflection of their stardom and disapproval won’t bring her back or make any good to the destroyed.
Everybody who thought journalism died and so on were busy celebrating Holi in the next 2 days and will also dance and perform in the next award shows hosted by these media groups.
It was not a situation that could be gotten away or forgotten. The grief was such that has left a mark on all of us and the actress left a void in our hearts. Nobody really thought that she would have such a dreadful death. But you can’t change the written. We are going to miss her always. The memories of her sudden demise will keep on giving us goosebumps. But I believe our twitter accounts messed it up all and killed the humanity inside us.