Celebrity body shaming

Twitter went hyperactive in body shaming Fardeen Khan

I’ve known Fardeen Khan for a while. He’s a remarkably suave, affable and well-spoken bloke. We haven’t been in touch after he moved to London. A few days back I was aghast to see his recent picture surface on Twitter. He’s obviously gained oodles of weight, a far cry from the lean, handsome woman-killer he was at one time. But what was more alarming was the fact that he was trending on the platform for his weight gain. Twitter went hyperactive in body shaming Fardeen.

Not cool. Social media can be unforgiving and ruthless. Its biggest hazard is that everyone has an opinion and everyone believes their opinion to be the gospel’s truth. It has given birth to an unusually high number of trolls, cynics and smart alecs who rave, rant and ridicule under pseudonyms. The flood of comments and one-liners shapes a certain kind of culture and perception, compelling people to consciously steer away from their core and what they stand for — trying to conform to a certain stereotype or rule-book for the nobodies who sit with a magnifying glass and red marker to approve or reject. The undue emphasis on physicality has triggered a thought process that looking good is more important than being good.

The physical micro-scrutiny of celebrities is a worrying trend. The pressures of being in the spotlight are terrifying. The burden is unduly immense. Stars end up spending more time with stylists, working on their looks for an event and gauging the reactions thereafter, than on reading and evaluating a dozen scripts that have been submitted to them for consideration. Acceptance of a particular look or outfit by social media’s self-proclaimed judges rather than accolades for an onscreen performance is deemed success. There is a sudden need to review and touch up every image before it goes up on social media. A multitude of beauty apps available for free downloads lighten, brighten, condense and whiten pictures before they are posted in the public domain. Priorities and perspectives have changed. Nothing is impromptu or natural and it isn’t expected to be either. We have been consumed by a world of artificiality where frivolous and non-issues have hijacked the real ones that merit attention and action.

The best tweet in defence of Fardeen came from someone who calls himself, The Silent Indian: “We don’t body shame women post pregnancy, then why body shame Fardeen Khan. His life, his pizza. So be it.” Bang on. If Fardeen is loving and accepting of his body, I don’t see why anyone else should have a problem with it. What should matter is what and how he is as an individual, and not what he wears or how he looks. Unarguably, social media forums are democratic and meant for free speech but expecting a modicum of sensitivity from the participants isn’t asking for much. How are impressionable minds expected to cultivate self-love and self-confidence when the world around them is constantly judging them and assaulting their self-worth? I worry about where we are rapidly headed. 

Tailpieces

1) We treat our guests, particularly the ones who come from the West, as gods. Tim Cook visited India and he was almost treated like the forbidden apple. Everyone from politicians to actors to the media went bonkers. Only if the same set of people extended as much attention and hospitality to our starving farmers instead.

2) I read about Tom Hiddleston meeting director Sam Mendes in London. So will he be the next Bond or is that too much speculation? Let’s hope that it’s Daniel Craig again. I don’t suppose the ladies will be too pleased to see a scrawny body in a pair of blue budgie smugglers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2016.

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