Mumbai: Undeniably, it’s been a rough year for Bollywood. Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide snowballed into a major controversy revolving around drug abuse, nepotism, financial wranglings, underworld connection and much more. Many actors and actresses became targets of relentless trolling.
Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan, who was among those at the receiving end reacted sharply to the impact of online abuse that Bollywood was subjected to. The actor told The Indian Express (TIE) that several artistes suffered not only professional but also psychological damage due to the relentless trolling.
“It’s a difficult place to be in mentally… This is the herd mentality like something just happens in a flow, like a trend. It’s like a wave and there’s no explanation. So, when you start getting backlash for something, you have no clue and the devastation it causes along the way, you are left asking, ‘For what?’ You are like what is this bandwagon that people have jumped onto? What happened in the last one and one-and-a half years was ridiculous.”
He said that the trolling ruined a lot of people. “What were they trying to achieve and who were they trying to run down? They did ruin a lot of people. The ones who could keep their necks above the water survived but if they (trolls) could help it, they would pushed their head down and drowned them. A lot of people have suffered psychological damage and professional damage from it and it’s unfounded. We are having trials of people in media when there are courts in the country,” Arbaaz said.
Matters came to a head with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) getting involved in Sushant’s death case leading to several social media platforms and even mainstream news channels accusing Bollywood of being a hub of drug abuse.
A clutch of producers approached the Delhi High Court, seeking to restrain some news channels from making or publishing “irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks” and conducting media trials against its members.
The suit filed had said that these channels used highly derogatory words and expressions for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum” and expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned” and “the dirtiest industry in the country”.
