Shadows of the past

With Donald Trump winning the US Presidential elections, the spotlight has fallen onto his beautiful wife Melania Trump, who will be the next First Lady. But, sadly, nude photos of Melania, a former model, are being shared by users on social media, with nasty comments shaming her for something that was a part of her past.

This is not an isolated case. In India too, celebrities like Sanjay Dutt, who served jail time for his crime, are not given the opportunity to let go of their past. Whether it is the adult star image of Sunny Leone, the notorious cases against Salman Khan or the infamous match-fixing scandal of former skipper Md. Azharuddin and even Manyata Dutt, Sanjay Dutt’s wife, who once starred in B-grade films and also did raunchy item numbers — people and sections of the media do not give these stars the luxury of living in the present.

Actress Sunny Leone has often admitted that she wanted to start afresh, but people never let her forget her past. In a previous interview with Deccan Chronicle, she candidly said, “I don’t think that I can ever get away from how people see me.”

Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar, however says that one should always keep a person’s past in mind. “T.S. Eliot says in the Burnt Norton: ‘Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past.’

Everything is cyclic. Whatever happens in history affects the present and future, too. If you just look at the future without looking at the past, then it is flawed.”

“But it is not fair if people are passing comments and bringing up a person’s past every time they speak. At the same time, if you are making a decision that will affect your personal life or business, and you don’t look at the person’s past, then you will end up making a very wrong decision,” adds Prahlad.

Life Coach Khyati Birla says that things become more difficult for the celeb, especially if he or she is unapologetic about their past. “There are certain lines which the society thinks that you should not cross. When you are in the public eye, society fixes certain rules and judges what’s moral and what’s not. Sunny Leone has been accepted by the country, even though she has earlier broken some ‘social norms’. Even Donald Trump was elected as the President of the United States in spite of his misogynistic remarks, because he was promising something good. So, if you can explain to the society, there is a chance that they may understand. But if you are unapologetic about your past, the society will continue to remind you,” she says.

“While many parents pray that they are blessed with a son like Salman, there are also many who feel that they never want a child like me (owing to the past controversies). Whatever has been done in the past has repeated time and again. As celebrities, we have to pay the price.”
— Salman khan

“Those who want to be famous want to associate themselves with Salman. The news channels too, would instantly pick stories about Salman, whether it was in positive or negative light, because they know that a name like Salman will help them grab eyeballs.”
— Salim khan, Salman’s dad

— With inputs from Lipika Varma