They say there is always another side to every story.
As we see the 'face of the nation', Anna Hazare getting open support from various Bollywood celebs, it makes us wonder what brought them to the center stage of this political uprising. B-Town bigwigs Aamir Khan, Raju Hirani and Om Puri were present at the Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, while others like John Abraham, Vidya Balalan, Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Celina Jaitley, Udita Goswami et al, were supporting Anna's fight against corruption directly or indirectly in various cities.
So, what's the agenda behind the celeb support for Anna? Are these stars cutting a piece of cake for themselves? Says Kailash, "When you see these stars, it's visible that they are fake, that they are fooling people and are doing it for the sake of free publicity. I have never seen people changing colors like that." But then he diplomatically adds, "In India the system breaks you and your spirit. And this makes people think why should I initiate a process. With Anna taking such a strong stand, it has given people hope to fight for a cause, something to fall back on when they want to take a stand against something."
There also surfaces a subtle divide within the hitherto united 'big family' - the Hindi film industry. Even as Anupam Kher, (who played the ideologically upright headmaster in Saaransh) came out to support Anna, the man who made the movie and his former mentor, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt opposed Anna's stance. On one hand, we had Aamir making his positive presence felt, and Salman's bodyguards beat up Anna supporters on the other.
While Amitabh Bachchan and Shekhar Kapur openly supported Anna on microblogging sites, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar were skeptical and Ram Gopal Varma even pretended ignorance about Anna! And then there were some who suddenly resurfaced from almost anonymity (like Raja Bundela, Sambhavna Seth, Raghubir Yadav) to ensure that they championed the most talked about cause of the moment. With their movies up for release, you could see some star casts in the front row of the protest rallies.
There was John Abraham breaking "dahi handis of corruption"as he put it during Janmashtami celebrations, Vishal Dadlani and Raghu Ram bragging about their 'participation in the Mumbai rally to support Anna' on social networking sites, and Vidya Balan, Shreyas, Bipasha, Udita and Celina in their Anna topis, Rakhi Sawant berating Team Anna, Jacquiline Fernandez refusing to support Anna - every celeb wanted a piece of Anna.
But do these celebrities really need to be out there in what it is being called the common man's revolution? Udita says, "I feel celebrities should stay away from the entire campaign. If this is a common man's uprising then it should remain like that and with Bollywood celebrities appearing on stage, the focus inadvertently shifts to the glamour they automatically bring in." But the ways and the cause is again appreciated and supported, she says, "It has definitely made a difference as we in India have become used to bomb blasts, but a man fasting has stirred the whole nation."
Opportunity knocks only once on your God forsaken door and it's wise to make use of it. However, to say that exactly that's what is happening will be drawing your own conclusions, but also there is no smoke without fire. Anna is surely fighting for one cause we all have got affected with at least once in our lifetime and actress Shital Shah sums it up best when she says, "I am happy that Anna managed to raise a very pertinent issue and sensitize the masses to it. What team Anna has come up with may not be foolproof and it would require some time on the part of everyone to bring out a bill that is in the best interests of the country." Chips in Celina, "Sometimes a change needs a revolution and the stand against corruption has brought every citizen of this country together just like we stood against the British. Celebrities supporting a good cause is important because we are all in our own ways role models to someone or the other. Mostly the youth in India needs the correct motivation."
With the impact of Anna being all-permeating at the moment, for many celebrities, it was also a chance to be in the arclight once again, so they seized the day to get every Anna's worth of publicity that can only help them professionally in the long run.
(With inputs from Soumitra Das)
As we see the 'face of the nation', Anna Hazare getting open support from various Bollywood celebs, it makes us wonder what brought them to the center stage of this political uprising. B-Town bigwigs Aamir Khan, Raju Hirani and Om Puri were present at the Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, while others like John Abraham, Vidya Balalan, Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Celina Jaitley, Udita Goswami et al, were supporting Anna's fight against corruption directly or indirectly in various cities.
So, what's the agenda behind the celeb support for Anna? Are these stars cutting a piece of cake for themselves? Says Kailash, "When you see these stars, it's visible that they are fake, that they are fooling people and are doing it for the sake of free publicity. I have never seen people changing colors like that." But then he diplomatically adds, "In India the system breaks you and your spirit. And this makes people think why should I initiate a process. With Anna taking such a strong stand, it has given people hope to fight for a cause, something to fall back on when they want to take a stand against something."
There also surfaces a subtle divide within the hitherto united 'big family' - the Hindi film industry. Even as Anupam Kher, (who played the ideologically upright headmaster in Saaransh) came out to support Anna, the man who made the movie and his former mentor, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt opposed Anna's stance. On one hand, we had Aamir making his positive presence felt, and Salman's bodyguards beat up Anna supporters on the other.
While Amitabh Bachchan and Shekhar Kapur openly supported Anna on microblogging sites, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar were skeptical and Ram Gopal Varma even pretended ignorance about Anna! And then there were some who suddenly resurfaced from almost anonymity (like Raja Bundela, Sambhavna Seth, Raghubir Yadav) to ensure that they championed the most talked about cause of the moment. With their movies up for release, you could see some star casts in the front row of the protest rallies.
There was John Abraham breaking "dahi handis of corruption"as he put it during Janmashtami celebrations, Vishal Dadlani and Raghu Ram bragging about their 'participation in the Mumbai rally to support Anna' on social networking sites, and Vidya Balan, Shreyas, Bipasha, Udita and Celina in their Anna topis, Rakhi Sawant berating Team Anna, Jacquiline Fernandez refusing to support Anna - every celeb wanted a piece of Anna.
But do these celebrities really need to be out there in what it is being called the common man's revolution? Udita says, "I feel celebrities should stay away from the entire campaign. If this is a common man's uprising then it should remain like that and with Bollywood celebrities appearing on stage, the focus inadvertently shifts to the glamour they automatically bring in." But the ways and the cause is again appreciated and supported, she says, "It has definitely made a difference as we in India have become used to bomb blasts, but a man fasting has stirred the whole nation."
Opportunity knocks only once on your God forsaken door and it's wise to make use of it. However, to say that exactly that's what is happening will be drawing your own conclusions, but also there is no smoke without fire. Anna is surely fighting for one cause we all have got affected with at least once in our lifetime and actress Shital Shah sums it up best when she says, "I am happy that Anna managed to raise a very pertinent issue and sensitize the masses to it. What team Anna has come up with may not be foolproof and it would require some time on the part of everyone to bring out a bill that is in the best interests of the country." Chips in Celina, "Sometimes a change needs a revolution and the stand against corruption has brought every citizen of this country together just like we stood against the British. Celebrities supporting a good cause is important because we are all in our own ways role models to someone or the other. Mostly the youth in India needs the correct motivation."
With the impact of Anna being all-permeating at the moment, for many celebrities, it was also a chance to be in the arclight once again, so they seized the day to get every Anna's worth of publicity that can only help them professionally in the long run.
(With inputs from Soumitra Das)
