Bollywood actors slammed frequently: Are we not star struck anymore?

Putting film actors on a pedestal has now become a ritual from the days of yore. Though there are the Salmans and Shah Rukhs who have teeming millions of fans to flaunt, infallibility is now restricted to only a handful of actors. With the vivacious new generation of artists taking over the industry's bastion, they command more respect than awe. Most actors are now regular people and their popularity comes from that element of familiarity. With media undergoing cataclysmic changes ever since the advent of Twitter, Bollywood celebrities today are prone to criticism and are frequently victims of the Tweetizen's wrath.

It all started with Sonam Kapoor calling #MeatBan misogynistic and then defended herself by saying, "It was a critique of the general mentality.Not just related to the meat ban. This exact judgmental bullshit f**ks us."[Sic] Twitter bullies came after her with an agenda and in no time, she was trolled and shamed with put forward a well-intentioned point of view, probably wording it wrongly. Coming on the heels of this mild-mishap earlier yesterday, actress Sonakshi Sinha , too, fell prey to prompt trolls when she posted, "This is a free country! Welcome to BAN-istan. I meant India. Stupid auto correct. Why no ban on ignorance/negligence? What about the flood affected people of Assam? Priorities people, Priorities. [sic]" It turns out that on August 27, Sonakshi Sinha had tweeted against the ban and sale of animal-tested cosmetics, making her #MeatBan tweet look like a display of double standards.]

Despite droolworthy drop-dead gorgeous, Greek God looks, Hrithik Roshan too got trolled for tweeting incorrectly about the Manipur ambush. An over-emotional Aamir Khan was made to look like a crybaby by netizens. We assume actors live utopian lives - big homes, big cars, branded attires. Everything they don has a price tag heavier than most of our cumulative yearly income. Attacking them on social media gives Tweetizens a sense of sadistic pleasure because they get a feel of superiority when they think they were instrumental in making the mighty get on their knees. That feel of ego boost is intoxicating for them and as most actors will agree the unnecessary flak they receive from online-pricks supersedes the praise that comes there way.

Another pertinent point that actors unanimously raise is that this illogical wrath doesn't have noble intentions at heart. An actor on the condition of anonymity says, "Their sole purpose is to pull people down. There is fun and humour which is understandable. And then there is bashing people for language and grammar and auto-correct errors, which for some strange reason takes precedence over the thought they were trying to put across. It is silly. When a Sonam Kapoor or Sonakshi Sinha talks about a raging problem, they are reaching out the issue to far too many people than it would have (given their fan following on digital platforms). Is it valid to trivialize it and overlook the grievance they had taken up? People are becoming petty and it is unfortunate that they bother more about grammar than about a raging issue."

So, is there a concrete solution to these trolls? The actor adds, "Well, I prefer not replying or reacting to them. While I am all for the ballsy people who have the guts to reply and clarify, I feel it gives people a hint of the fact that you are affected by it. Remain unaffected and it works in your favour. Unless you are an Alia Bhatt...," he signs off with a smile.