Statistics may suggest hundreds of helpless girls being molested, raped and murdered in the country every day. We just could not be bothered about them. But when someone from Bollywood is caught with his pants down, we love it. Why, asks Derek BoseNobody knows whether Shiney Ahuja did his maid dirty. The domestic help says it was rape. He says it was consensual sex. His wife says it is a frame-up. The cops say the accused has confessed. The victim’s family wants him hanged. And Bollywood, as usual, is ambivalent, speaking in different voices. Expressions like “blackmail”, “soft target”, “no smoke without fire” and “honey trap” are being freely bandied about by all and sundry.The media circus that has accompanied this tragedy is nothing new. We have seen it every time a Bollywood celebrity is involved in a scandal and dragged to court. Crime then takes on a new colour. It becomes a source of entertainment. Statistics may suggest hundreds of helpless girls being molested, raped and murdered in the country every day. We just could not be bothered about them. But when someone from Bollywood is caught with his pants down, we love it. Rape committed by Shiney Ahuja is special. Other rape cases do not matter.The vicarious pleasure we derive from watching the high and mighty fall has a lot to do with how deeply Bollywood is ingrained in our collective psyche.Any other public figure, be it a powerful politician, a corrupt cop or the scion of a reputed business family, does not evoke the same level of interest, however grave the crime might be. Bollywood heroes are supposed to be larger than life, capable of performing supernatural feats and more importantly, projected as paragons of self- righteousness and virtue. For them to stoop down to the level of ordinary crooks and rogues in real life can be hugely disappointing. It is simply not acceptable.Little wonder, nobody showed any sympathy for Rajesh Khanna when (at his prime) actress Amita’s 16-year-old daughter, Sahiba accused him of “molesting” her. We enjoyed the show when Mamta Kulkarni’s sister made similar charges against Anupam Kher. Then there was Jackie Shroff who got his knickers in a twist for “acting fresh” with Tabu, who was barely 15 years at that time. Likewise, we could never have enough of the courtroom drama that followed Pretti Jain, an upcoming starlet, accusing director Madhur Bhandarkar of raping her repeatedly and not signing her for any film.Somehow, we do not want to believe that the victim (or complainant) could actually have been the villain of the piece and that there is much more to the mud-slinging than what meets the eye. We rush to the conclusion that anybody wealthy and powerful is evil by default and deserves to be punished. By the same token, we are more than convinced that anybody who is defenceless and weak can do no wrong. It is this public mindset that many ambitious women who come in contact with Bollywood celebrities, have cleverly exploited to their advantage. The sad part is that even after realizing how vulnerable their stardom makes them, the men succumb to the temptations of the flesh. No male star, big or small, is ever ignorant about the perils that lie ahead for behaving inappropriately with the opposite sex. And yet, they fool around, again and again.On the surface, this would appear as a kind of death wish, conditioned by being in an industry where, more than anything else, it is plain luck that determines success. Nobody here is ever secure. Everybody must stake his/her chances so as to survive and morality be damned. So when an actor tempts fate and takes liberties with a woman (or law), it is considered par for the course. After all, that is how he has learnt to live in a competitive environment. He is guided by the good old Bollywood saying which translates thus: “On a good day you can get an elephant through the eye of a needle. But on your bad day, even an ant will get stuck.” It is all a matter of chance.Now delve a little deeper and some terribly uncomfortable questions would emerge. What makes Amitabh Bachchan want to sneak out dutiable goods through the Green Channel at Mumbai international airport? What made Sanjay Dutt stack unlicensed arms in his house while Mumbai burned, following the bomb blasts of 1993? What makes a known history sheeter like Salman Khan to get into drunken brawls? What makes so many Bollywood stars do drugs, evade taxes… or even on matters of the heart ~ What makes people like Raj Babbar, Dharmendra and Mahesh Bhatt commit bigamy?They are all educated people, conscious of the consequences of their action. They also know that to many Indians, they could even be role models. Yet, they choose to be rash and irresponsible, confident in the knowledge that they can get away with whatever they choose to do. This is the kind of over-confidence that has resulted in Bollywood biggies party to all kinds of offences ~ right from jumping traffic lights to slapping poor waiters in restaurants to committing rape and even murder. And when they actually get away with these criminal acts (because of who they are), they become all the more brash and brazen. They could not care being photographed while hobnobbing with an underworld don in Dubai. A Shakti Kapoor would brag about his exploits on the casting couch with women (by naming names) on national television. Another senior star thinks nothing of forging documents to import a top-end car without paying duty. These are just a few well-known instances of how stars do not just stop at pushing their luck for career reasons. Their devil-may-care attitude makes them plain contemptuous towards law.A successful Bollywood star can never be a good person to know. In fact, the more successful they are, the more unscrupulous they become. And yet, people fall over one another, ready to kiss the ground they walk on. We hear of bizarre tales of temples built in their name, fan mail written in blood, of youngsters wanting to immolate themselves outside star homes… We see uniformed police constables at a Mumbai court mobbing an undertrial, desperate to touch him, just because he answers to the name of Sanjay Dutt. At any queue, we ourselves make way for film stars, giving them right of passage. Such hero worship is bound to corrupt anyone mentally. The star begins to believe he is someone special, even divine. He forgets that even gods have feet of clay.
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