‘Her baby bump is fake’ ‘Pregnant women don’t walk like that, is she even pregnant’- this is just a sample of what social media's hard-hearted comments looked like, after Deepika Padukone stepped out on May 20 to vote.
Social media has, since it’s inception attracted criticism for being a breeding ground of negativity, apart from of course keeping us connected. Celebs such as Sonakshi Sinha in fact quit X (then Twitter) in 2020 because it became too toxic for her. She wrote on Insta later, “I've cut the direct source of insult and abuse in my life. I've taken away YOUR power to be able to say whatever it is that you want to me, my family and my friends...” Aamir Khan too had deleted all his personal social media accounts in 2021.
The question arises once again, with Padukone’s trolling in focus: Has social media gone overboard? Does a public figure not even have a right on their own body anymore?
Celebs such as Alia Bhatt liked a journalist’s Instagram post, which was addressed to the trolls, “...you have no right to comment on any aspect of her life” Aahana Kumra, who also endorsed the post in the comment, herself was trolled merely for standing up for herself some time back. While exiting an event, a fan asked her for a picture and just while getting clicked, put his hand around her waist. She was quick to tell him to not do that. Talking to us, she says, “It’s her body! Why are people commenting on it? Every pregnant woman has a bump. This shows our industry’s solidarity.She didn’t want attention when she stepped out to exercise her constitutional right. When I had raised my voice, people had trolled m on social media saying ‘yeh kaun hoti hai bolne wali’ It’s my body! I didn’t want someone touching me.”
{{/usCountry}}Celebs such as Alia Bhatt liked a journalist’s Instagram post, which was addressed to the trolls, “...you have no right to comment on any aspect of her life” Aahana Kumra, who also endorsed the post in the comment, herself was trolled merely for standing up for herself some time back. While exiting an event, a fan asked her for a picture and just while getting clicked, put his hand around her waist. She was quick to tell him to not do that. Talking to us, she says, “It’s her body! Why are people commenting on it? Every pregnant woman has a bump. This shows our industry’s solidarity.She didn’t want attention when she stepped out to exercise her constitutional right. When I had raised my voice, people had trolled m on social media saying ‘yeh kaun hoti hai bolne wali’ It’s my body! I didn’t want someone touching me.”
{{/usCountry}}Body shaming is a hit with the trolls, and actor Zareen Khan has dealt with it a lot. She believes the anonymity of social media has given ‘fake belief’ to some people that they have the authority to give their opinion on everything under the sun, “People frustrated with their realities find social media as a medium of venting out their frustrations, and celebs are easy targets. I have stopped reading such comments, but I have sympathy for the trolls who come and leave such nasty comments. In real life, they don’t have a voice.”
Adah Sharma faced abuses and vulgar threats for her films The Kerala Story and Bastar: The Naxal Story. She says, “Being an actor and especially after doing The Kerala Story... I feel once you are- a ‘celeb’, your ‘personal’ life is kind of open to one and all. The whole world becomes your family and is free to give their opinions.” Another actor who found herself being attacked by trolls in the past was Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya, who tells us, “When I am subjected to trolling, there are times when I ignore them but more often I speak up and people who find the argument right, join in. I’ve even filed a case in cyber cell once and got a resolve to my issue.In my opinion its important to raise a voice so they know that the fight is not going to be that easy.”
Producer Pritish Nandy feels these trolls find celebs as targets in their “free time”, “When you create an army of trolls who work for essentially political purposes, in their off time, when they have nothing to do, they will be nasty to whoever they find. They are perpetually and perenially promoting hatred and abuse.”