(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) An increasing number of stars are resorting to social media platforms to drive societal change Deepa Gauri writes
Social media is changing the rules of the game of the Malayalam film industry. What started off on a very innocuous note of films being promoted online has now entered a new level altogether – much in tune with global trends.
Unlike Bollywood stars who instantly realised the ‘marketing value’ that social networks bring to their own celebrity image Malayalam stars were rather shy entrants. Other than custom-generated tweets such as ‘I posted a photo on my Facebook page’ by Mammootty and Mohanlal their social media interaction had been largely subdued.
They were also reluctant warriors in what is now called ‘news manufacturing’ which is rampant in Bollywood. The modus operandi is rather simple: A celebrity tweets about a social issue media agencies who bend over backwards to accommodate every star-whim quickly spins it into a story and there you go the tweet has become news and it is practically in every site and newspaper.
Malayalam actors were more reticent – and even deliberately stayed away from such trouble. Prithviraj an actor who was victimised by social media networks early in the day tweeted last in 2011 that too to wish Abhishek Bachchan on his birthday.
His Facebook page much like the stage-managed shows of several other actors is largely a collection of photos from past and oncoming productions although he chose to use the social network to announce his fatherhood.
Actors like Fahadh Faasil and director Anjali Menon prefer to expound their philosophical insights through their social networks – both passionately endorsing Rumi.
Actor Murali Gopy gathers an impressive share of ‘shares’ and ‘likes’ with his posts on Facebook several of them quirky takes on life around. The latest for example is titled ‘bedtime tale’ which reads: “Once there lived a white tiger named Facebook in an open jail called Social Media surrounded by an 18 - feet wall. Man jumped the fence fell right in front of the creature was mauled and posted on the wall. Technology ‘Liked’ it. History ‘commented’ on it. Nature ‘shared’ it.”
Actress Manju Warrier and Dileep despite their best efforts haven’t been able to resist washing some dirty linen on social media. While both were purportedly clamouring for privacy the backhanded jabs and ‘holier-than-thou’ posturing weren’t hard to miss. Possibly stage-managed for them by their spin doctors both their ‘personal’ posts also showed how social networks had become battle grounds for pettiness fueled further by anguished fans.
Director Lal Jose took to town with his on-road adventure to London with posts coming in from China and through the CIS countries. Writer-actor Anoop Menon who had once posted interesting blogs meanwhile finds bliss in posting his photographs and occasionally coming up with some interesting one-liners.
Youngsters of the industry are rather lame when it comes to generating any meaningful interaction on Facebook and are content to simply promote their movies with stills – which are summarily lapped up and forwarded by their fans.
The heroines of the industry too are unabashedly slavish to posting their selfies and stills – and not surprisingly – they get ‘likes’ like monsoon lichen. Despite the power and reach of social media and how important it is for the actors very rarely do any of them indulge in any meaningful conversation with their followers. Other than a customary ‘thank you all’ and worse still unfailing ‘goodnights’ (this largely the line that actresses prefer) they seem to revel in the blind hero worship that social media has facilitated.
Several people in the industry have also been unsuspecting victims of other people’s pranks. A scathing comment by a Mammootty-hater on a post by actor-producer Vijay Babu when he was promoting Peruchazhi further fed fan-wars. Such mean wars are an everyday norm and it takes the high pitch when new films are released.
Actor Asif Ali was dragged into a controversy when his fans allegedly manhandled a girl who used her social media to go ballistic against his movie Hey I’m Tony and in the process also giving away the carefully guarded climax of the film.
Director B Unnikrishnan was furious when fans vented out against Mr. Fraud while director Renjith is unforgiving about the mean streak of fans on social networks. And when they voice their opinion the water gets murkier.
Most recently director Shyamaprasad put forth a pertinent point on social media with a post lambasting the quality of Malayalam serials. Addressing the Congress party state head VM Sudheeran directly he said it would be a great favour to the society to ban the serials in a veiled barb against the politician championing liquor prohibition. Shyamaprasad has now further expanded on the statement asserting that he is against any sort of prohibition and clarifying that he had never argued to ban serials.
Actor Mammootty meanwhile is taking his ‘My Tree Challenge’ with fervor on social networks while actor Mohanlal has found his true calling in blogs. We will never know if they are ghost-written as many columns in Malayalam dailies by the super-stars are (apparently they ‘share their views’ with their pet reporter who then makes it into meaningful copy). Mohanlal however goes an extra mile in penning the copy for authenticity which is then scanned and posted on his blog and social media.
The only trouble is that even sharing a genuine concern about the society can immediately turn even the most respected actor into political stooges. No doubt social media continues to be the double-edged sword for Malayalam actors.