Meant to hate Bollywood now, is it?

The best way to measure power is to gauge who you canrsquot speak against With governments in a democracy this lack of imminent criticismdissent is deemed as worrying But it has its positive effects tooTry saying anything that could be sexistmisogynist racist or casteist in publiconline space for instance The instant backlash will give you a sense of how the power levers have shifted although therersquos still a long way to goBut you can totally go after the traditional educated uppermiddle classes of Indiamdashscholars activists or even media folk allegedly aligned with the old establishment That tells you something too So long as this attack is inevitably framed in only two waysmdashboth as analogies benefit partisan politics eventuallyOne is pitting elites versus lsquoreal massesrsquomdashequating elites with elitism as if the two are the same Mahatma Gandhi was elite by the way Also itrsquos not as if anyone had a choice over which family they were gonna be born intoIf you observe online the other tired framing is between Hindus and Muslims in India supposedly centred on correcting medieval history as it were Even if for a second you concede an academic point heremdashfact is no Muslim alive right now had anything to do with BaburAurangzebrsquos army or tax collectors so who are we fighting against againI guess trolls are fightingmdashdefined in my books as peeps online who obsessively demand public accountability from public figuresmdashas against public servantsofficials who are actually accountable to them Past couple of years you wouldrsquove noticed from one facetious issue to another the same trolls seem to hate lsquoBollywoodrsquo now is itAnd where does this hate come from Conventional wisdom suggests you hate someone because a you hate yourself b wish to be in their position envyjealousy or c consider them a threatAs for the framing of this hate again given Urduwood Hinduphobe type tags on my timeline Irsquom guessing the onedimensional trolls believe the Bombay film industry to be a place where Indian Muslims have done disproportionately well as against in many other walks of lifeThe elitist argument is blended with lsquonepotismrsquomdashusually made I notice by lsquopromeritrsquo people who themselves passed objective type exams Because their families could afford them an education and an ascent towards a job that they thereafter lsquonetworkrsquo incessantly to find anotherBollywoodrsquos also easy meat Because Soft power Meaning soft therefore no real power as such The easiest route to fame is anyway to attack the already famous if not attach yourself to them Artistes and entertainers combined have way more organic followers than politicians anywhere They can potentially influence public opinion That canrsquot be ignored eitherHow do hardcore desi politicians address this Through the same principles attributed to Chanakya that they otherwise play politics with lsquoSaamrsquo reconciliationmdashaccess group selfies state functionsawards etc lsquoDaamrsquo pricemdashpetty official perksappointments funding of propaganda pictures other unknown benefits lsquoBhedrsquo dividemdashprofessionalsindustry split between loud supporters and silenced dissenters through troll armies threats of boycotts and the like lsquoDandrsquo punishmentmdashdirected at those who speak up through raids cases floozy FIRs etcAnd so you ask why Public Figure S R K not speak about national issues N R C K F Phellip In the same way that armchair online activists dislodge governments every dayFact ismdashthe individual variables donrsquot match Selfishness selfpreservation Whatrsquos bothersome is when all the variables collide towards an entire profession that must protect itself against a collective onslaught through censorship coercion mass defamation and other means Staying quiet isnrsquot cowardice thenmdashsimply suicidal callousnessWhere does mainstream news media figure in all of this The arc of competitive mass private news is long but it has always bent towards eyeballsmdashknowing what public is interested in even if it isnrsquot always in public interest This is called tabloidation which is such a passeacute noughtiesrsquo termWhatrsquos replaced it in the case of live national TV with a single inventorymdashonly one story on screen as against onlineprintmdashis the lsquotrollisationrsquo of news Inspired by hawks on social media who pass judgments without a hearing nail suspects without a trial shame massive groups as a conspiring monolithSeeking accountability is still basis of most news So why is this trolling Because you can tell they canrsquot even speak to real powermdashlet alone speak truth to itmdashfearing lsquodandrsquoretaliation Forced then to pick stories only so the more importantcontentious ones remain concealed for that primetime for sureBut they must hold someone accountable stillmdashpoliticians not in power activists intellectuals private individualshellip Bollywood is only the latest egg in the basket of imagined lsquogangsrsquo and lsquolobbiesrsquo Gotta find new ones Feel sorry for this lotAnd Irsquom not even talking about the recent case of 23 Narcotics Control Board officialsmdashentrusted with defanging a 650 billion internationalAfPak drug trademdashwho followed a party cruise liner six of them on board with Rs 80000 tickets eachAnd returned with a few collegetype kids and a drug haul that is by all estimates much less than the price of their cruise ticket A 23yearold dragged along was superstar Shah Rukh Khanrsquos son so letrsquos start on Bollywood again HahMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper