When individual becomes an event

While preparing for the part of the heroprotagonist Balram in Netflixscreen adaptation of Aravind Adigarsquos book The White Tiger actor Adarsh Gourav tells me he realised hersquod got it right when he was once sitting outside his hotel among drivers with their cars parkedGourav as Balram was fraternising with his supposed brethren although the shoot hadnrsquot started yet he was simply prepping He plays a chauffeur in the movie The filmrsquos producer Mukul Deora was casually getting into the hotel mdash but he couldnrsquot spot Gourav anywhere mdash looking through drivers milling around Until the actor made their eyes meetAs Balram Gourav had become invisible Which is precisely what he was aiming for the role of the Everyman White Tiger as metaphor refers to the rare variety of tigers that isnrsquot uniformed in the standard goldenorange with black stripesAnd so it stands out from the crowd making itself noticeable therefore of some worth Which is what the lsquoinvisiblersquo Balram wishes to be in the context of societybookfilm What he does for it is the story Irsquom not gonna spoil for youAnd thatrsquos set in Circa 2008 The first thing that occurred to me about the decade that followed that year is Arenrsquot we already in a world of white tigers where hardly anybody thanks to Internet is virtually invisible anymoreThat Balrams of this world would have followers on TikTok YouTube Insta WhatsApp groups showing their supposedly unique coloursstripes heralding the age of the hitherto lsquoinvisiblersquo asserting itself through the media mdash by holding it in their hands and potentially an audience in thrall with itThrough dancing clicking singing sharinghellip All moments historic every individual an event Why is it that screen actors have traditionally been celebrated so much They head the same spectacle in the fictional space Except reality at a moment when everyone is the legit leadactor of their own screen could rival imagination of any sortEven feature films as a result yoursquoll notice so often resort to blurring the line between documentary and fiction between AK and AK Borat and Baron Cohen even Bollywood wives and their fabulous lives What we consume all day on infinite scroll on our phones are a series of screenswindows with lsquorealrsquo people acting like lsquounrealrsquo people anywayIt was all chewing gum for the family and friendsrsquo brains Until it dawned on us that this spectacle isnrsquot the space for the harmless entertainer alone Itrsquos for anyone seeking selfworth and dopamine high by holding your nanosecond of attention mdash sometimes for lack of anything else maybe with their views so out of waywhack that we stop to listenMaybe we move on Or maybe join in creating a bubble of kinship plus conspiracy theories Forming groups with identities diametrically opposed to another For what good is a group and how do you keep it best glued But this consolidation needs constant fodder to keep the conversation going mdash some issue to trade invectives over All day every dayGroups inevitably align themselves behind figureheads who equally seem to be reality TVInternet stars not Trump alone mdash directly pursuing public validation by the minute in what the politics professor Bernard Menin calls lsquoaudience democracyrsquo as opposed to lsquopartyrsquo and lsquoparliamentaryrsquoNever in history has it been easier to organise a ragtag Internet army The leaders arenrsquot as much the issue mdash they come and go and you can debate individuals How about Frankensteinrsquos monsters they willingly feed and embolden in the name of democracy of the streetThe group identity is transparently simple Create a binary Accuse the world of exactly the same things they accuse you of mdash being illinformed intolerant deniers of free speechexpression misdirected peddlers of fake newsAnd take on the other grouprsquos selfperceived identities instead mdash activists speaking truth to power Until you simply canrsquot tell between the socalled oppressor and the oppressed This formula never fails mdash tell the other side just what it tells you mdash and mix it with a dark cocktail of envy schadenfreude and hate cloaked in selfrighteousnessA general perception that most trolls and relentlessly brainwashed conspiracy theorists are in effect keyboard cowards at best mdash shooting away from the comforts of their closed minds and homes mdash seems correct Sometimes just sometimes mdash the shit spills overAnd so a hitherto invisible called Jacob Chansley aka Jake Angeli famous online as QAnon Shaman mdash antimask antivaccine true patriot with a painted face bare chest furhat and horns dressed like an eighthcentury Viking as he puts it to call attention to himself an exNavy once an aspiring actor mdash just offloaded from the Internet straight into the US Senatersquos daisPosing for photos flexing his muscles holding a spear with an American flag at the citadel of worldrsquos oldest large democracy In his head he was probably executing a coup with the mob by his side And this is America I stopped reading fiction ages ago Who wants the next episode of Black Mirror At this rate of reality wersquoll probably see it someplace else soon Thatrsquos the frickinrsquo fear Hence the rantMayank 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