BY INVITATION: KRK and the hate juggernaut

Think of him, if you will, as a middle-aged CarryMinati. His fan base is largely made up of connoisseurs of cringe content - a social media subculture that relies heavily on puerile and poorly-articulated hot-takes masquerading as thought leadership

In an age when hate gets more likes, shares and subscribers than love, it is not difficult to explain a phenomenon like KRK.

Mumbai, Aug 30 (ANI): Actor Kamaal R Khan being produced at Borivali court, in Mumbai on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (Vijay Bate)

In 12 years since he first grabbed eyeballs as a volatile inmate on Bigg Boss 3, the self-styled actor and film critic from Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, has amassed a following of 5.1mn on Twitter, 1.1mn on YouTube and over 100,000 on Instagram. For all intents and purposes, the online space is his world and we are merely living in it. No amount of intellectual maneuvers can deny this.

Think of him, if you will, as a middle-aged CarryMinati. His fan base is largely made up of connoisseurs of cringe content - a social media subculture that relies heavily on puerile and poorly-articulated hot-takes masquerading as thought leadership. But it doesn’t matter if you follow him or not. Either through ironic re-shares or genuine concern, KRK finds a way to your timeline.

Kamaal Rashid Kumar - he recently dropped ‘Khan’ to adopt his wife Anita Kumar’s surname - had harboured acting ambitions as a young man and against his farmer parents’ wishes, travelled to Mumbai to try his luck. When that didn’t work out, he reportedly headed to Dubai to work as a technician.

He would soon return to his original karma-bhoomi, Mumbai, to give showbiz another shot. In 2005 and 2006 respectively he produced a Hindi film titled Sitam and starred as a villain in the Bhojpuri production Munna Pandey Berozgar. The films sank without a trace but KRK landed another fighting chance at fame with a spot on Bigg Boss 3 in 2009, then hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.

Before he was unceremoniously removed from the reality show for his violent behaviour, KRK would routinely boast of the enormous wealth he’d amassed during his Dubai stint. A Quora thread attributes his fortunes to successful export and construction businesses. The 47-year-old father-of-two followed up BB 3 with Desh Drohi, his most meme-fied contribution to Hindi cinema, and a guest appearance in Ek Villain (2014).

The last decade has seen KRK’s earnest attempts to embed himself in Bollywood mainstream in stealth mode. Only this time, the goalpost was moved -- to find an audience, KRK ditched movie sets and cinema halls for social media. If you can’t join them, beat them, seems to be his mantra.

And once in a while, he hits bulls-eye. Wedged between sexist tweets -- he once conducted a poll for Bollywood’s biggest butt and more recently, blamed Anushka Sharma for husband Virat Kohli’s mental health struggles -- and wild conspiracy theories that convey a deep persecution complex, are reasonable call-outs for inflated trade numbers and egos alike.

In turn, Bollywood ignores his trolling for the most part… until they can’t. In August last year, Manoj Bajpayee filed a defamation case against him. In a series of tweets, KRK had compared the award-winning actor’s show The Family Man to ‘soft porn’ (when his own videos are generously peppered with vernacular obscenities), made off-colour comments about the actor’s wife and daughter, and called him a ‘ganjedi (stoner)’.

A few months prior, Salman Khan had sent a similar notice to KRK. While Bollywood’s resident troll claimed it was in retaliation to his unfavourable review of the actor’s last release, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, Salman’s lawyers maintained it was in response to allegations of corruption and money laundering. The Mumbai city Civil Court subsequently ordered KRK to refrain from publishing any defamatory content on Salman, his business ventures and/ or films.

Back in 2016, KRK had planted himself into the eye of the storm that was the simultaneous release of two behemoths - Ajay Devgn-starrer and directorial Shivaay and Karan Johar’s multi-starrer Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. KJo had paid him to badmouth Shivaay, he claimed.

In recent years, he has gained more traction for his extremely on-brand and topical contempt for nepotism. His critique of the Ananya Pandey and Vijay Deverakonda-starrer Liger, rejected by critics and trade alike, has been particularly relentless. Incidentally, it is also produced by Johar.

Another curious incident that comes to mind is from the 2011 Zee Golden Awards. As part of a scripted comedy sketch, hosts Ali Asghar and Suresh Menon presented a “Lifetime Achievement Balti (bucket)” award to KRK, who was miffed with the suggestion that he was associated with Bollywood’s lesser cousin, the TV industry. Clearly, he can dish it out but can’t take it.

KRK’s luck finally ran out a few days ago, when he was held in Mumbai upon arrival. The arrest was made on a complaint lodged by Rahul Kanal, a member of Yuva Sena and reportedly a close aide of Aaditya Thackeray.

Like his work, KRK’s arrest has also polarised people. While there are memes abound celebrating it (some concur it’s a massive relief for KJo, whose Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt-starrer Brahmastra is hitting theatres on September 9), even his detractors agree that an arrest over a bunch of obnoxious tweets is a tad excessive.

Taslima Nasreen has tweeted, “KRK is a humbug charlatan and a disgusting sh*thead, d*ckhead, faithhead guy. His tweets are filthy and foul. But I oppose his arrest. Nobody should be arrested or punished for expressing opinions unless they incite violence.”

There’s a lot more to be said about the rise, and what will hopefully be a mere stumble, of KRK in the context of Mumbai, and by extension, India’s pop culture landscape online. For now, it makes sense to wait and watch which version of him emerges on the other side of the bars.