Sushant was not a child but some women can manipulate the guy easily (and vice versa), especially if the man is a bit introverted, doesn't have a strong support system to fall back on and deals with phony bollywood people he doesn't share common interests with most of the time.
I watched Rhea's interview too cuz I wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. I must admit, her performance was outstanding even when she is under so much emotional duress--and if I didn't know better, I'd have fallen for it! I reminded myself that she has gone over her answers multiple times and rehearsed them with one of the best lawyers of India who can make night look like day and day look like night.
I used the three tools of persuasive speaking to analyze her interview.
Ethos (sometimes called an appeal to ethics): She was SSR's girlfriend, much to our disappointment, and she has a say here, much to our dislike.
Pathos (appeal to emotion): This is what Rhea's rehearsed interview has really tapped on--by tugging at people's hearts with her and her family's sob story and yes, deep down, most of the people feel for the 26 year old girl from a middle class family who lost the love of her life and is now being mob lynched without being proven guilty.
At the same time, her appeal to emotion needs to accompany reasons, facts and concrete evidence cuz this is now a criminal case, people are skeptical and won't just take her words for it.
Logos (appeal to logic) is a way of persuading an audience with reason, using facts and figures. She was lacking here. No facts, nothing at all, just talking crap about his family and Ankita doesn't make it true. Playing upon feelings and emotions of people can only work up to a point cuz that alone CANNOT be used to replace reason and evidence-based arguments. She didn't use or talk about an evidence or reason to present her case. Maybe she's saving it for the actual CBI investigation or the court trial that'll follow later but she hasn't given the audience any proof to back up her claims. This was an emotional appeal for the most part.
Whether people buy her story or not, I do think there needs to be some sort of a restraining order against the papparazis and so called journalists who have shown nothing but utter disregard towards people's personal space. Why were they pestering the old man (Rhea's father) and poking the mic at his face and whatnot when he is most likely using up every ounce of his willpower and strength just to keep his sanity together? Do people not understand where to draw the line anymore? Last I checked, we're not wild animals. Whether she's guilty or not, papparazi's have no business doing what they've been doing and need to back off.
Edited by coldbrew - 4 years ago
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