The price of stardom

We have heard fans misbehaving with actresses or mobbing them when they attend shop openings and other such events. But what befell top actress Shruti Hassan, daughter of illustrious actor Kamal Haasan recently at her residence in Mumbai, is scary.

Shruti, who is equally popular in Bollywood, was allegedly attacked by a stalker at her apartment in Mumbai.  It was a regular day for the 27-year-old actress when she answered the door bell at 9.30 am. A man grabbed her throat and forced his way into her house. Shocked momentarily, she quickly gathered the strength to slam the door on him.  The unidentified man managed to flee away from the scene although he was hurt in the process. Reportedly, he was an obsessed fan. Shruti was shaken by the incident, but her  spokesperson later confirmed that all was well with the actress. We hear that she has been given personal security by the makers of her upcoming flick, 'Welcome Back'.  

Buzz is that this man has been following her around for quite a while at her shooting venues, including Mehboob Studio. Sources indicate that the stalker would have known of the Luck star’s movements as the ravishing girl was updating all her activities in Mumbai every day on her Twitter account.  Is this the bane of technology that we have to live with?

At a time when celebrities and stars are smitten by social networking websites, like Twitter and Facebook, and promote their films and share personal information, most of the hot and happening K’town stars like Ajith and Suriya dare to be different.

Though the 'Singham' actor is silently active on these sites by maintaining a ghost account, he candidly admits that he can never be a part of them openly. “It is sad! The kind of filth and nasty things that happen on social networking sites, I don’t think I can ever be openly a part of it. I have seen people writing malicious stuff and seeming to get joy out of it.” 

Sometimes, the Twitter menace attacks in a different way. Whenever there are new releases of their favourite matinee idols, fans of the respective stars wage a war on Twitter, putting in hateful comments and misusing the medium. In a recent interview with DC, Ajith had maintained, “Responsible individuals with a good upbringing will definitely not indulge in cheap activities, like posting malicious comments.” On the trend of the review of a new release coming out first online and on social networking sites no sooner than the film’s first show is screened, and often being biased to boot, he says, “This trend is inevitable. Ours is a democratic country. Everyone has a right to post their views on any issue, be it politics, sports or entertainment. But what is very important is that the ‘credibility’ of those people who post their views or comments must be looked into seriously.”

Ask Oscar winning musician AR Rahman who is extremely active on Twitter and Facebook on the advent of technology — whether it was a boon or no. Pat he replies, “It’s removed the long-winded, bureaucratic route to displaying one’s talent, which is good. However, there are some not so good things in it too, which is cause for concern as a parent because kids have access to content that should be filtered out.”

Actor Siddharth, who is hyper active on social networking media, holds bold views and  has no fear of landing in trouble through his comments. “I express my mind because I have one. I see that as logical. If one fears for the consequences then there’s no point in calling India a democracy. I’m thankful that Twitter helps me avoid being constantly misinterpreted by today’s media which is quick to sensationalise.”

Kajal clarifies that she is not a technically challenged person even though she doesn’t spend too much on them. “I am on Facebook and that is to connect with my fans,” she says.

Sneha’s nightmarish experience with a stalker
Few years back a man named Raghavendra from Bengaluru, posing himself as a producer approached her with an idea of making a movie. Later, she found out that he was not a genuine producer and the real intention of the stalker was something else. “He started sending me messages, asking me to marry him or else he threatened that he would immolate himself.  He also started following me wherever I went for shooting and used to message me from there,” she said. Despite changing her mobile number twice, the stalker befriended someone at the mobile service provider and managed to get her new numbers. A stage came he started harassing and threatening her. After a point the actress was forced to seek help from the police and finally 

he was detained.

Namitha loves her fans
Namitha is one actress who is the most wanted in K’town when it comes to inaugurating shops. There have been several instances when she was mobbed by her fans while she was attending public functions and opening shops. In some instances police had to resort to mild lathi charges to disburse the crowd. But a thorough professional that she is, Namitha disagrees with the adage ‘pay the price for being a star’ and says, “I love my fans and never get annoyed with them. That’s their own way of expressing their love.”