Bollywood uses the media at their convenience 
By Subhash K. Jha, April 30, 2007 - 10:59 IST
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I call it the before-and -after (b&a) effect. All it takes is one Friday for a star to turn into a scar. And yet the wounds never squeal. It's offensive to my sense of moral propriety when today's 'buddy' turns into yesterday's baddie.
I've been around long enough to see stars change their colours faster than the hoardings on Fridays. Trust me it isn't a pleasant experience. Topping the b&a list is Mallika Sherawat.
Ah, Mallika! Isn't she the same innocent unaffected non-filmy gal who used to call and cry about the wolves in the film industry? Apparently everyone from Emraan Hashmi to Ashmit Patel wanted something from her. And it wasn't companionship.
"Subhashji I feel so helpless. I feel so unprotected in this industry. I live like a nun. I cry myself to sleep every night. I miss home. I've virtually crawled from Rohtak to down here…"
Blah blah. Before I could actually start to shed tears for bechari Mallika Murder was released. She suddenly stopped calling. She went off-press. I felt oppressed.
John Abraham had gone into the grey zone for a while. I think it was his inability to handle success. He has now reverted to being the affable cool guy …gentle and polite. It doesn't require great calculation skills to see that a shrewd veneer has completely overtaken John's judgement. From now on, everything he does will be a clever calculated move to further his career.
A 'scar' is born.
No harm in that, as long as the arrogant hunger for self-promotion doesn't peep through. I cringe when I think of the average newcomer. From his dying-to-talk-to-you calls to the drawling-to-mock-you self-worth …. It wasn't success but failure that has changed Viveik Oberoi. He and I go back a long way. Although Viveik and I sparred stormily over his desertion of his steady girlfriend Gurpreet Gill and although I openly pulled up Viveik for making a public nuisance of himself on the Salman issue, somehow Viveik and I got along extremely well.…until Aishwarya Rai walked away from his life.
Perhaps he got embarrassed by the setbacks in his life and career. But the sudden disappearance does seem to suggest that Viveik has decided he doesn't need ‘the press’ except when the interviews are suitably strategized by his publicists to coincide with his film's release… or in lieu when he decides to break his silence for an 'exclusive' ….Either way, it's baffling to see Viveik and others of his ilk go from seemingly genuine warmth to equally sincere cooling off.
I've seen enough stars undertake this journey from the silk route to the sulk route to know that such steep dips and curves in the media-celebrity relationship tend to destroy those very faculties that serve the purpose of star power.
Okay. Salman in the North and Rajnikanth in the South have managed to remain stars without being media-friendly. I am not asking the stars to be media-friendly, just suggesting that they don't use the press at their convenience.
In my experience the TV stars have a bigger ego than their large-screen counterpart. The worst snub I've had is from a TV player called Cezanne Khan whom I called for an interview only because he worked for my dear friend Ekta Kapoor.
"You're the guy who writes, right?” Mr Khan drawled, putting all the big-screen Khan's into shade. Yup, I am the guy who writes. I wish I could ask Cezanne Khan if he's the guy who acts. Because he can't.
A request to the showbiz chameleons: please don't change while I'm looking.
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