Bystander’s burden

What happened to Arjun Rampal was strange and like many agree, “absolutely unexpected”. Bollywood insiders might have known that Hrithik and Sussanne, were well, not having dinner together, but the speed with which “family friend” Rampal’s name was dragged into the divorce, did take everyone by surprise. It was, a classic “speculation whirlpool” that sucked the ‘bystander’ into its vortex, twisting and churning until it left behind were more rumours and broken ties.
It has happened before, to several others — this bystander bullying. Indian cricket’s first lady Sakshi Dhoni landed front page when she accidentally.......“offered a seat” to match-fixing accused Vindu Dara Singh during a match. A few days later, down south, Lakshmi Rai took the brunt for a few dozen photos of her with another fixing accused, Sreesanth. Then there was Deepika Padukone’s infamous appearance with rumoured former boyfriend Sidharth Mallya — which led to the actress being dragged into the very public Kingfisher nosedive.

And most recently, there was Tehelka’s Shoma Chaudhary, who ended up becoming cannon fodder for the media, for both — her rubbish handling of the Tarun Tejpal fiasco and for being the only one who was answering calls at the Tehelka office.

Vindu, explained that Sakshi episode.

“I didn’t know her at all. I don’t have her number... nothing. Arjun’s at least a family friend, but look at my case — I was going to Tirupati, thought I’d catch a match... she offered me a seat and all of a sudden, it becomes a scandal. I was just shocked. I had no idea it will take that spin and was completely blind-sided. I have learnt my lesson, and I have completely stopped all links with cricket. I have not seen a ball since that episode.” 

But what sets the Hrithik-Sussanne-Arjun case apart is their handling of the crisis, which, according to crisis management experts, will go down in history as a text-book perfect manoeuvre.

Shortly after Hrithik’s official statement, both Sussanne and Rampal were quick to “clear the air” and dismiss allegations of an “affair”. Their statements to the press were just hours within each other’s.

“Yes, that’s true. But after the press statements, the other celebrities too offered no comment. There was an official statement... that’s it, ‘what do you need from us?’. And all of them borrowed from the statement, stating, ‘the couple’s privacy must be respected’. It was perfect,” says Raghavendra Reddy, a ‘go-to’ crisis man and director of Sipper Global Informatics, a telecom start-up.

He continued. “The nature of crisis, has changed so much over the past many years. Today, a scandal can be born out a laptop, a phone, a single word, a chat, from a shared tweet or even a photograph. Also, let’s not forget hyper media, where the scrutiny’s so intense that there’s a very thin line between a simple appearance and an all-out fiasco. What Hrithik or his wife have done is kill speculation, make their stand clear. About Rampal, that’s another case.”

So, how do you deal with a ‘21st century’ scandal?

“You have to be frank and forthcoming with information. The media are responsible, provided you’re armed with the details. Even corporates face such issues. I remember when there was this incident of a death in a factory. We quickly assembled an ‘on-site response’, where we got reporters to the scene, and clarified all queries. The best way to handle it, is to be quick and clear,” adds Reddy.

Another way, most preferred by celebs actually, is yes, Twitter. The social network has become the best way to send out messages of clarification, corrections.
Vindu, however, disagrees... and yes, is still hurt.

“Yes, Sakshi was dragged in. And the way I was treated was absolutely unfair. When the media wanted details, they were swarming my house. But when I wanted to talk and clarify, there was nobody around to even listen to me. I think everyone should just be prepared to handle controversies, or bad news.”