Fans debate the greys in Michael Jackson's life
Fans debate the greys in Michael Jackson's lifeLove him... hate him...feel repelled by him... but few could ignore Michael Jackson. Not when he wooed a bored Egyptian princess in 'Remember the time', matched steps with all the bogeymen possible in 'Thriller', pleaded with humanity to 'Heal the world', then turned around and screamed that 'They don't really care about us...' and of course, insisted it didn't matter if 'You're black or white'. Was there anything black about Michael Jackson at all or was he all white?
For most of his fans, especially Sheldon Sequeira, Jackson was all white. "I'm not a fan of his lifestyle but I feel those child molestation cases were all b'll''ks," says the copywriter. "If there's even a tiny blemish on a famous person, everyone's just too happy to turn judgmental and take potshots at him. No one considers the fact that it could be a lie."
According to the 24-year-old, Jackson's ability to amalgamate music and dance were the best things about him. "He was the first guy who sang and danced on stage. Elvis Presley did too, but he just about jigged while singing. Now, everyone from Justin Timberlake to Britney Spears to Beyonce Knowles does it."
The Jackson fan thinks the musician did no wrong except maybe what he did to Paul McCartney. "Buying the Beatles' catalogue when he knew what that meant to McCartney especially when they were such good friends...u00a0very uncool," asserts Sequeira.u00a0
For Bidisha Singha, a former fan "like most of us at some point or the other were" Jackson's music was the 'white' part of his life. And the black? "He's gone now... let him be," says the 27-year-old firmly.
Actor-anchor Cyrus Sahukar (27), doesn't mind delving into the ugly side. "His childhood wound him up pretty bad. Tragedy surrounded him and there was this whole talk about how he was eccentric. But well, he had a pet chimpanzee, a ranch called Neverland... there was an aura of weirdness about Michael Jackson," he says.
According to Sahukar, the blackest part of Jackson's life had to be the fact that while he was a man adored by nearly the whole world, his own family hardly loved him. "That must have hurt," he says. On the brighter side, Jackson's talent was such that every song he wrote became an anthem. "All of us have at some point practiced moonwalking. All of us at some stage wanted to BE Michael Jackson. He was the cool quotient trendsetter. He defined all that was 'cool,'" says Sahukar.
Though Rohit Kumar was never a big fan per se, he respected Michael Jackson's music. "He's the pioneer of pop music as we know it, pretty much the face of it. That was obviously the best part about MJ. As for the darker side, naturally, the first thing that springs to mind is the whole child molestation fiasco. He was a very mysterious shy guy, so the world took much pleasure in publicising his personal life. Only his fans didn't seem to mind. I remember watching videos of them outside the court where he was being tried for child abuse screaming out their support," says the 24-year-old marketing executive.u00a0u00a0
Prem Hariharan, technical manager and die-hard fan claims every song by Jackson was a masterpiece and struggles to pick the 'black' side to the popstar's life. "MTV became what it did because of Thriller. Who wanted to watch music videos before that?" he asks. The 33-year-old feels Jackson brought the world together with his music. "Even people who couldn't understand the language would hum the songs because they were so phenomenal. There was nothing black and white about his life, though... it was all technicolour," says Hariharan with a laugh.
He isn't too happy discussing the 'dark' side to MJ's life. "True there were cases against him and they might have been true. All the same, he was abused as a child too. That must have scarred him for life," says Hariharan.
His brother, Vivek Hariharan, 29, a regulatory services manager, puts it more cryptically: "MJ wanted to heal the world and make it a better place but ended up messing his own life. He went from creating great music to the ugly child abuse charges to his failed marriages... from black to white and white to black."u00a0
For HR manager Abhishek Chandra, Jackson's image was blackened the day he was charged with child abuse. "I banned him completely. But when I learnt of his death on Friday morning, I dug out his old albums and played them again," he says. Chandra says that while he could forgive Jackson for being a gaudy dresser and living on a ranch called Neverland, the abuse cases couldn't be ignored. The 30-year-old adds, "His music united the world, no doubt. His dance moves, 'Earth Song', 'Billie Jean', were great. He was my god of pop. But I think MJ lived his life. It was just like a movie with a tragic ending."
"He's iconic! There's never been a guy who managed to blend so many types of music, punk, pop, elements of rock, and he was a complete entertainer. As for the so-called ugly side to him, well, we never knew whether it was true or not. And now we never will," says Amit Bharadwaj, 37, executive chef.
