In a nation that aspires to be a global superpower, a morning walk with one’s dog wearing a comfortable tracksuit sans a bra by Bollywood celebrity Malika Arora became national news. For a bunch of good for nothing losers, otherwise known as trolls, this became an excuse to brutally censure the well-known media celebrity who happens to be a feisty single mother who chooses to live life on her own terms. It was bad enough that the trolls got into the act, even the media with their salacious headlines turned a personal satirical choice into a highly sexualized narrative that offends the dignity of a woman.
In the digital times that we live in, it takes extraordinarily little time for a highly offensive and downright sexist narrative to go viral, never mind the bruised dignity of the person being so unjustly maligned. It is downright irresponsible of the media to go to town about the kind of clothes that Arora wears. While it may be quite alright for them to inform the people about a celebrity’s gym or hair-stylist visits, it is not kosher to pass off sleazy headlines as genuine news and moralistic platitudes about a person’s clothes even if they happen to be a celebrity.
When carried to absurd lengths, paparazzi following the celebrities’ every move can have a catastrophic consequence for the person concerned as happened with Princess Diana in the past. At the very least such behavior can have a gravely negative impact on the mental health of the celebrity in question. The whole issue speaks to a very important matter today’s consumerist society’s unhealthy obsession with the goings-on in their favorite celebrities’ lives. This makes the media serve up more and more salacious and spiced up news that further whets the appetite of those who consume such tripe. This obsession with profit over performing the true role of media-that of informing people of facts has had a very deleterious impact on the moral fiber of a crass consumerist society.
Coming back to the slandering of the veteran Bollywood actor and media personality with definite views about things, it is shameful that a woman of Arora’s stature should be subject to such vilification. At 48 years of age, with a college going son and an impressive body of creative work behind her, the lady deserves respect and admiration and not this kind of puerile objectification. The fact that her decision to not wear a bra under a tracksuit should cause a furor amongst so many grown up people reveals more about the gross minds of such good for nothing losers than anything else.
That the media should fan such sentiments is very depressing, but hardly surprising, considering how pathetic so many of the mainline new channels are with their live shouting matches amongst their so-called experts and guests. It is no surprise that most national news channels are nothing more than entertainment channels these days. That being stated, the spineless trolls that have made it their business to malign Arora do not have it in them to bring down this woman of substance who continues to be a role model to millions for all the right reasons.
