The much-hyped ice bucket challenge seems to have inspired Mollywood to churn out its own different versions.
Many celebrities are now coming forward to take up the rice bucket and tree planting challenges. Only time will prove whether these noble acts end up as mere rhetoric or result in a successful campaign.
The new challenges have offered a clever marketing strategy to the actors, directors and technicians in the tinsel world. Even those who were left jobless quickly jumped on to the bandwagon by either donating a bucket of rice or planting a tree and challenging a few others to continue it. They are clearly aware of the media coverage and the ‘likes’ it would garner in the social media.
A producer was heard saying that the number of luxury sedans parked in an actor’s home in Kochi city might easily outnumber the trees planted on its premises. Some recent media reports had named actors among those who violated the coastal regulation zone norms to set up their plush homes and business ventures.
Cheers for verdict
On Thursday, some of the bar-hotels in the city witnessed celebrations like never before as soon as the apex court’s verdict postponing the closure of bars came out. The celebrations at some locations went slightly out of control, triggering some minor clashes and often forcing interventions from the hotel employees. The barmen and the customers say the society considers certain forms of recreations improper. “It’s why we have comfortable, confined places to enjoy these activities and it’s exactly the same with alcohol — drinkers go to bars to get tipsy without offending the sober,” they say.
The melting pot
As is his wont, it was filmmaker Dr. Biju who fired the first salvo against a Malayalam superstar, without naming him, for essaying on-screen several characters that take a condescending, if not contemptuous, view of the marginalised Dalit and tribal population.
The immediate provocation for the award-winning director’s outrage on social media was the alleged musing of a character played by the actor in a movie currently in the cinemas. The reference to ‘Attappadis’ [natives] in a [fashionable] mall is not just derogatory, it smacks of caste elitism, says the director and rues that as a people we are made witness to such personalities being paraded as brand ambassadors of the State.
Dr. Biju also takes a swipe at the actor’s hyped blog posts on social causes, saying committed actors have a responsibility to see that the films they are associated with do not show the marginal sections of society in a poor light.
Expectedly, Dr. Biju’s comments received sharp reactions, disparaging comments and downright swearing from the fans of the actor. Those who came in support of the director faced the music, too. In the end, what came to the fore was what filmmaker Ranjith pointed out a few days ago: the use of the social media by a few as an alternative to toilet graffiti. A social debate sought to be triggered by a noted filmmaker hit a dead-end under volleys of orchestrated abuses hurled from all over.
Reporting by G. Krishnakumar, Hiran Unnikrishnan and S. Anandan
