Superstar’s Innocence –What, really?
It was a sultry Sunday evening. Notwithstanding the heat inside the room, Rahul had found a comfortable space in the balcony to sit and play PUBG. After a while, his phone flashed a warning message “Battery Low. Plug to Charger”.
Rahul shouted from the balcony, “Giri, dei Giri!”
Laptop in hand, having multiple windows opened in colourful C++ and CSS codes, Giri walked into the balcony. Now what? he frowned.
Rahul: “When will the power be back? My phone is about to die….”
Giri: “You knew it is a maintenance power shutdown then why did you have to play PUBG and drain your battery?Let your phone die, no big deal!”
Just as Rahul was about to defend himself, they heard some indiscriminate voices at a distant with interludes of a blaring speaker.
Rahul: “Enna machan sound?”(What is this commotion?)
Both of them peeked out from the balcony and looked down the road in the direction of the noise. The faint murmurs had gotten loud and louder.
Rally: “Indhu madham matrum indhukal thakapadugirargal!”(Hinduism and Hindus are under attack)… “Periyarin eyaykam kaliakapadavendum!”(Abolish Periyar’s organisation)
A group of men and women across all ages, were shouting slogans condemning Periyar for affecting religious sentiments. The crowd temporarily halted and a person, who seemed to be leading the rally, made an announcement. “Makkalae (People), sign this petition to file a defamation case against Dravidar Kazhagam for their anti-national behaviour at Salem under Periyar in 1971.”
Rahul: “Ennadhu anti-national ah? 1971 ah?”(What anti-national? 1971, is it?)
Giri: “Aama, aama (Yes, yes), talking against majority is in itself an anti-national behaviour la..”
Rahul: “Dei adhu theridhu (Well that’s known), but why are they rallying against an event that took place in 1971 da? Were these guys in coma for 50 years or what?”
Giri: “Credits to Superstar Rajinikanth da”, Giri smirked.
Rahul: “Ohoo, is this because of his viral video on Facebook and Whatsapp? Edho (some) award function….didn’t give much attention, what’s about it?”
Giri: “Not an award function da, it was the 50th year celebration of some regional magazine. Anga (There) he had claimed that in 1971 Periyar carried naked statues of Ram and Sita with a slipper garland and a lot more.”
Rahul: “Isn’t that against the religious sentiments da? People will definitely feel offended and rally against it.”
Giri: “Dei, his claims weren’t entirely true, Ram and Sita’s statues were carried but they weren't naked idols; however there indeed were obscene representation of some other Hindu deities in line with what’s mentioned in the Hindu mythology. Unfortunately, there was some mishap due to which a part of the rally got agitated, and desecrated the idols. Since it was a procession, Periyar was far away from the scene and couldn’t abate it. Moreover, it was a rally against Hindu’s superstitious practices and beliefs, such a rally would obviously attack religious sentiments, what else do you expect…..”
Rahul: “Oho… but how do you know?”
Giri: “Research dan (only) da. It was a controversial event even back then and was a talking point during the 1971 Tamil Nadu elections. So I used old and current news articles, eye witness reports that are trending on YouTube now, and there is even an audio of Periyar clarifying this incident in another rally.”
Rahul: “Pahhh, where do you find time for all this?”
Giri, who was lost in his own thoughts sighed, “hmmm enga poi mudiya podho (not sure where this would end up). Shouldn’t Rajini be more responsible in publicly talking about such sensitive things?”
Rahul: “As if this is unusual of him….. namma dan da paathu irundhukanum (we should be careful in believing what he says)… I just hope this doesn’t end up becoming a communal issue.”
Giri: “Illa (no) machan, society cannot bear the consequences when people like Rajini who are great Influencers make false public claims.” he commented while placing his laptop down on the floor.
Rahul: “But it is normal for people to exaggerate certain events da.”
Giri: “How is distorting facts an exaggeration?”, Giri frowned.
Rahul: “Inga paaru da (Listen), of course it affected some people that Periyar rallied against superstitious practices of Hinduism. Would you disagree? Idha dan Rajini konjam exaggerated (Rajini exaggerated it a bit). Even you and I do exaggerate some of our own stories for the fun of it.”
Giri: “Dei, I understand that. And my problem is exactly that. Nobody really bothers about whatever we say. Even if I say Ambani is my father, no one is gonna give a damn about it, let alone investigate the validity. But it is Rajini da, don’t you know how crazy people are about Rajini here? When people follow him so loyally — read blindly — it becomes all more important to investigate the validity of his claims, and stop people from falling into the trap of genetic fallacy.”
Rahul: “Machan, just because he is a superstar, doesn’t negate the fact that he is human da.”
Giri: “The term superstar is a pedestal Rahul, if Rajini is willing to stand on top of the pedestal and enjoy its benefits then, he also has to be accountable enough to the people who placed him on that pedestal. And this is true of every single person who comes into the public life.”
Rahul: “This is just your opinion da, not a rule. Aren’t we who are putting him on that pedestal? Then shouldn’t we check our biases, and investigate the validity of the claims he make? At the end of the day all leaders in the public life also have personal opinions and differences which would play out in the public. Most of us agree that Rajini is a right-wing person and is seeking to gain political mileage by opposing the radical activism of Periyar which is the core principle of the Dravidian parties here in Tamil Nadu.”
Giri: “Of course machan, but having an opinion on something is different from fabricating facts for his personal political gains.”
Rahul: “If that’s the case, almost all politicians are guilty of it, isn’t it? The responsibility has to be with us to filter out things and consume what is truth and factual.”
Giri: “Dei yepdi da! (Are you crazy!). Instead of asking 1 person to be accountable for what he says, you are demanding 60 million people of the state to be responsible recipients of information.”
Rahul: “Of course da, at the end of the day individuals make decisions.”
Giri: “This is letting these men of power go scot-free then… giving influencers undue advantage to speak whatever they want. Don’t you think that’s unfair?Asking them to be responsible is the least we can expect from a person who is socially celebrated for various reasons.”
Rahul: “Ellam puridhu da (I understand), knowing Rajini and his public attitude I think he was not trying to fake it machan. He wouldn’t have genuinely known the truth or he could have been misled by other false information and assumed that was the truth. It, it… could have been completely unintentional.”
Giri: “Machan, you do know how Tamil cinema and politics are interlinked. Starting from MGR, Karunanidhi, Jayalalitha, all have their cinematic lineage. There are still people who think they are electing MGR by voting for ADMK.”
Rahul: “Adhukum idhukum enna da smanadham?” (What’s the relevance of it in the current situation?)
Giri: “In this political vacuum created after Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi’s death, Rajini and Kamal are using their cinematic influences to enter into politics, hoping to lead the state one day. Andha time la vantu (during that time), you cannot say that the comments made was unintentional or he was genuinely innocent. People blindly trust him da… okay take this example, even while I was telling you about Rajini’s speech, you judged the actions of Periyar, saying it was anti-religious without even considering the validity of Rajini’s claim. Why? Rajini has established himself as a credible force and most people, including you, believe his words to be true and nothing short of it.”
Rahul: “hmm sari dan (agreed). But still, I think it can be made a two way channel. Expecting both to be responsible in sending and receiving information? We cannot mandate the leaders to be always perfect. Flaws are unavoidable da.”
Giri: “You do know how long it took for me to make sense of the 1971 event, and there are people out there who are neither ready to go the long way, or do not have the time or resources, or most commonly aren’t even aware that there’s anything to be checked. And I don’t blame them, because I know I come from a place of privilege to be able to sit down and think of these things.”
Rahul: “Apdi paatha (In that sense), fake news is not a problem only with respect to influencers machan, everyday people receive a lot of fake Whatsapp forwards. Who will you hold responsible for spreading such fake news in this medium? Don’t you think that believing an information and checking its validity resides with the individual? Look, even today I received an informative poster on how individuals should fact check information on Whatsapp.”
Giri: “I agree. Here we are enforcing the responsibility on the individual because with all these technologies at hand people can say or write anything they want. But again with given technologies we are neither able to trace back the source of the fake news, nor hold anyone accountable for it. Hence, the general public are cautioned to be aware of the Whatsapp forwards. But in terms of influencers and leaders, we clearly know the origin and to some extent the intent of such false claims, then why do we have to make the citizens responsible? Why kill a patient to cure a disease?”
Rahul: “Dei Perfectionist, you always expect more of a leader. But yes, ideally what you say makes sense. While I am cautious enough to check the credibility when I receive a Whatsapp forward from an unknown source, I tend to believe things even before listening to it when it comes from a person that I follow.”
Giri: “Hmm, at last othukitiyae (you agreed). It took me more time to convince one person than to find out the happenings of the event... Can’t even imagine convincing the other 60 Million people of TN. Ha ha…”
Rahul: “Nee dan blog pannuviyae (you write blogs right), make a story on this and send it out. Let the world be enlightened. ” Rahul animatedly said, extending his arms wide out.
Both Rahul and Giri were laughing at each other’s amusing comments and a minor lull set in, lighting all the nearby houses, including their home.
Rahul: “Habbada current vandhurchu (Thank god, power resumed).”
Giri: “To play PUBG?”
Rahul: “Of course, pesi pesi tired aiiten (Got tired of talking). Nee enna panna pora? (What are you going to do?)”
Giri: “Hmm, maybe blog about this as you suggested.”
Rahul: “Innocent Superstar, title epdi? (how’s the title?).”
Giri: “Whaaat really? you still consider him innocent, do you?”
Rahul: “Padharaadha (Don’t freak out). Although I am an ardent fan of his, what we just argued, made me question my blind loyalty to him or any leader for that matter. I think I will slowly come to terms with it, at least till then let me consider him innocent.”
Giri: “Whatever helps you macha, but great that you have started questioning. Va ulla polam (come let’s go in).”
About the Story: In our day-to-day life, we are so used to being in a state of dilemma starting from finding a matching pant to finding a matching partner. Provided with choices, at times, we struggle to make a decision and linger in the thought of whether to choose this or that. This story is also about that dilemma between two friends about choosing between polar opposite ideas. On a usual Sunday evening an unplanned and unintended debate brewed. While they started the debate seeking to find answers, they ended up with more questions on the topic of social accountability as whether it should reside more with the influencers such as political leaders, film stars, sportsmen, or an ordinary citizen. This story intends to make the audience question their own choice on this issue and nudge them a little more to make a reasonable decision by considering both sides of the argument.
About the Author: Vinithra is an Engineer who is trying to mend her thought process through Liberal Studies. This story is one such attempt in testing out her critical thinking through a fictional narrative inspired by true events.
