Shiney Ahuja a star who appeared on the Bollywood circuit from almost nowhere, took the industry by storm with a string of hits such as, Hazaron khwaihishein Aisi, Gangster, Life in a Metro, Bhool Bhulaiyya, has again made news, but this time for the wrong reasons . He is in judicial custody for allegedly raping his maid servant. The onscreen “Hero” has been arrested for committing a “Villainous” act in reality. He has recently been jailed for not only raping his maid servant, possibly a minor (as the age hasn’t yet been established), but also threatening to kill her.
As is with all the cases involving celebrities in India, this case too, in just a few days witnessed many twists and turns. First, keeping with the media pattern, all that the news channels did was to show the report repeatedly, sensationalizing the crime with little facts, almost negligible footage, crazy background music and dizzying zooming in and out of stills (a trend birthed and nursed by Ekta Kapoor. What’s surprising is that the news channels have aped it too!!).
There are new reports everyday which clearly demonstrate the forces at work. So, one day there are reports of the girl being a minor, Ahuja being in his senses (established by a blood test), CM announcing compensation (as if there is one!), chairperson of National Commission of Women holding press conference and promising justice to the victim. All sympathies are naturally with the victim. The very next day a new angle is carefully thought and planted, the latest being, a case of blackmail gone sordidly wrong. The maid supposedly has a rogue, junky boyfriend, who tried to set Shiney up. Clearly, this is an example of use of character assassination of the victim as an easy ploy (as though the actor was able to stand the test!). Also, Shiney’s admittance to consensual sex, coupled with absence of signs of assault on the girl, and the wife’s claims of Shiney being innocent, leave one perplexed. The wave of empathy , as of now, vacillates between the wronged and the accused, till proven guilty.
Prima facie, crime has been committed. It’s now to be seen what happens with another high profile case in India. The precedence in such cases however, is not very encouraging. After all, Shakti Kapoor, Aman Verma, Madhur Bhandarkar, Salman Khan roam scot free. Sanjay Dutt went to jail, came out and gave super- duper hit Munnabhai MBBS. Salman was out (after rampaging the poor), and once again restored his superstardom with Tere Naam. After all, we are such forgiving, innocent, imbecile fools!
After much hype and brouhaha, the case would die its own death. Shiney Ahuja too would be walking out on bail (if convicted), doling out hits like before and minting money like never before. It seems, that the ‘road to superstardom’ in Bollywood, passes through the Arthur Road Jail.
The travesty of justice!
For once can justice be meted out without any prejudice?
We Indians have such poor memory. We forget all the horrible things that the celebs do...We are a culture that is obsessed with celebs...I don't know if SA was framed or not but things like these happen all the time behind closed doors. Its just that being in the public eye catches more attention . That does not mean that what SA did was ok. But have to say that his wife is very supportive of him so I feel that he may be innocent...Who knows? And what about our dear khooni politicians? Nice work, Megha :)
ReplyDeleteThanks sanjukta! I totally agree, our obsession with the stars is to te point of worship. They are infallible! Talking about wife being supportive(despite Shineys admitting to consensual Sex), is somewhere understandable. She being the wife( Indian culture doesn't allow wife's to denounce the man), has to stand by him. But whats really surprising is that the industry supports him too. They are a pack of devils equally guilty of abetting the crime. They know from the past, this is the last stage of metamorphosis from a star to superstar.
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