Everything for the right price

I have little to say about the Cobrapost exposeacute that revealed what millions of us have always known about Bollywood stars The hot takes and opinion pieces have been written a few hundred barbs have appeared on Twitter and everything is back to normal because the Kapil Sharma show is probably on in a few hours from now Our collective surprise and outrage has long run its course because theres a new awful film out this week and life must go onIt is naive to expect any different obviously given that ours is a country where ministers accused of murder and extortion can end up dictating who should or shouldnt be allowed to stay in India Hypocrisy is probably embedded deep in our DNAAnd yet I believe there has to be a reckoning of sorts in this instance because the idea of celebrity is about give and take We put men and women on pedestals shower them with fame and fortune because we expect them to give us something in return This isnt always as simple as paying to be entertained Some global celebrities really do teach us about life while others inspire us to be better human beings Not all of them fade into the sunset when the director yells CutWhat amuses me when I look at stars from Bollywood sadly is how none of them add anything positive to Indias story This wouldnt matter if we werent a country obsessed with sports and bad cinema but we are which makes some kind of accountability important Film stars here must do more and behave better because they wield more powerI stopped watching anything released by the Hindi film industry years ago I did this not because I wanted to prove a point but simply because life is too short to be wasted on anything that isnt very goodUnfortunately there are a billion people who choose to invest time and money on these films and the people who create them making it possible for all kinds of dubious men and women to become influential folk with astonishing power at their fingertips Naturally this power is used to make money because actors who arent interested in money never graduate from theatreIt is naive to expect film stars to evaluate their decisions from anything other than the prism of commerce Some of them do of course because their conscience has managed to stay alive despite their best efforts to smother it Most of them dont because they worry about the fickle nature of fame and how two bad films can precipitate a fall from billboards to the nearest soap opera It is this desperate urge to squeeze every last drop in exchange for an endorsement that leads to what Cobrapost showed usAn argument that began circulating in the aftermath of those revelations sought to absolve actors who hadnt been caught with excuses of how only hasbeens had been targeted That to my mind simply erased the possibility of soul searching Film stars the world over are treated as nothing more than beautiful people who entertain us In India unfortunately they have always been treated as demigods and should be made accountable for that precise reasonWhen was the last time a Bollywood star did something worthy of praise let alone something that led to genuine change When was the last time a star used his or her power to do more than tweet about a trending topic in order to be on the politically correct side of a conversation When was the last time any of the million genuine problems plaguing the film industry itself were addressed seriously let alone more important issues that concern the rest of usThe truth about Bollywood is that it is little more than an insular circle of pretenders who band together to maintain an illusion Its why con artists and criminals have thrived in that hallowed space for decades ruining lives of impressionable teenagers with impunity masquerading as farmers to buy land opening offshore accounts to save taxes maintaining dual citizenship always safe in the knowledge that a photo opportunity at the right reception with the right politician can erase all wrongdoingsI recognise the impotence of this argument along with the ridiculous notion that an exposeacute will suddenly prompt our stars to use their celebrity for change rather than profit It doesnt hurt to dream though After all isnt that what we were told cinema was aboutWhen he isnt ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereira Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates