Superstars are not made on Fridays alone any more. Unlike in the past, an inventive hashtag or relevant content is all that you need to become an overnight sensation. And this could happen any time of the day or any day of the week.
Malayalam actor Priya Prakash Varrier’s wink took the Internet by storm and catapulted her to superstardom. But such social media stardom does not always lead to immediate real-life success. Many actors and reality television stars say social media stardom could result in plum opportunities; some argue that this could also lead to severe abuse and troll attention.
Online bullying
Ask Sarjun K.M., who directed the short film Lakshmi that went viral a few months ago and dealt with the life of a working class woman and her conflicted marital life. The widely watched film evoked a polarising debate about morality and what’s acceptable in marriage.
“Apart from the positive views, I found myself facing personal abuse and online bullying for a while. Despite this, I’ve realised that the platform is so strong that any idea — be it a short film, song or story — could be published on social media,” he said.
While his second short film, Maa, too became extremely popular online, Mr. Sarjun is now getting ready to direct Nayanthara in a full length horror-thriller film. “I have received a few big offers,” he says, thankful for the benefits his exposure in social media secured.
Bigg Boss Tamil winner Arav said popularity on the social media could very well be lucrative. “There are so many web series now with entry of Netflix and Amazon Prime etc. There is good reach now. There are so many dedicated online series and stars.”
Mr. Arav said social media had opened up the space for younger actors who earlier would have had to depend on just the traditional media to speak about their work. “It used to be very difficult. We could potentially find ourselves trending on social media for saying or doing something at any time. The reach is amazing,” he said.
Pointing out that the main advantage of social media stardom was that the rest of the work of the artiste would also get noticed, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli, who played the lead role in Lakshmi , said, “After that film became popular, because of YouTube links, a lot of my other work also got noticed by people. I was recognised as an actor much more than before. When a movie of mine released in theatres after that, I was recognised as Lakshmi by the people — and this happens in public too.” However, she said the success didn’t really translate into good movie offers.
Increasingly, media companies are exclusively focussing on content that is tailor made for social media — picture and video memes, explainers, and so on. Cautioning that merely being a part of viral content did not have to translate into long-term opportunities, G. Dhananjayan, author and founder of Blue Ocean Film and Television Academy, said social media ‘stars’ had to ensure good, sustained content to keep them in the limelight.
“For someone like Sivakarthikeyan who started off in television, his reach was immense and his popularity only grew, thanks to his films and audience acceptability. Similarly, RJ Balaji, who has over 3 million followers on Twitter, has been able to have a sustained appeal based on his films and how he has been engaging with his fans,” he added.
