The never ending show
“The show must go on” –
the favorite cliché of entertainment industry.
A statement with far deeper meaning than the superficial one of literal continuance.
People in public domain, be it politics, sports or movies, are like products with expiry dates. Very few of them manage to prolong their end dates and for some, the public ensures it’s never ending. The famed lime light, not just puts the spotlight on the personality on focus, but also ages them quick. Few years back, while watching Wimbledon, my friend who is a die-hard Fedex fan, couldn’t stop admitting, grudgingly though, that Nadal was far better on that match. He went on to wonder that they belong to the same age group, yet the stamina and power of Nadal was impossible to imagine. I was stunned for a moment and immediately googled to figure out his age and was surprised to find that Nadal was in his twenties!!! Ditto for cricketers, who despite being on TV month after month featuring some tournament or other, often retire from their field even before they hit mid-thirties. But, when you see them in person, they often appear older than people who are much elder to them. May be it’s the constant attention of media and repeatedly seeing their faces splashed across all forms, we/ I tend to assume they are aged? Don’t cross question the statement like “Does that mean seeing someone regularly makes them old? Then what about those in your family?”. There is no rhyme or logic behind that thought process just that I often tend to assume people in public spotlight especially movie stars and sport stars look aged pretty fast.
That’s why when I got to know that Sridevi was only 55, when she breathed her last, I was shocked and was pretty sure they got the numbers wrong. But astonishingly it was 55 and I was dumbfounded to say the least. For someone who has been acting in movies since the time of MGR and his peers, she must’ve been in her pre-teens when she was donning roles much elder to her age. I read some articles about her earlier life and it was nothing short of trauma. For those who consider the current day reality shows as abusing childhood in children, hers is a case in point from few decades back. Her on screen persona and the kind of acts that she has played in tamil and telugu industry and the roles that she started with in hindi industry, especially the sobriquet with which she became popular, definitely had a bearing on her personal life as well, with lot many cursing her to be family breaker. Popularity on public domain, invariably has a fallout on the personal life of the stars and Sridevi was no exception to that. No doubt she is one of the most celebrated artists across decades and some of her performances, especially in tamil movies like Johnny and Moonram pirai are sensational. With such childlike enthusiasm, one couldn’t be faulted for assuming, she was a grown up with a child’s mind, whereas it was vice versa.
With condolences pouring in by the second on social media on her demise, there are those who, as always, take contradictory positions, questioning the extraordinary show of sympathy and affection. Worldwide, sports and movies are two domains in which people attain cult status pretty quick and supporters and detractors aside, their claim to fame or infamy will always be set on stone. Agreed that there are so many burning issues raging the nation at present. In few days’ time Sridevi will be as fresh as the news of yesterday. But come her daughter’s movie launch, everything would be back on forefront with renewed vigor. Hope her daughter doesn’t go through the same cycle and have an easier and comparatively normal life.
But again, its show business and you would never know.
the favorite cliché of entertainment industry.
A statement with far deeper meaning than the superficial one of literal continuance.
People in public domain, be it politics, sports or movies, are like products with expiry dates. Very few of them manage to prolong their end dates and for some, the public ensures it’s never ending. The famed lime light, not just puts the spotlight on the personality on focus, but also ages them quick. Few years back, while watching Wimbledon, my friend who is a die-hard Fedex fan, couldn’t stop admitting, grudgingly though, that Nadal was far better on that match. He went on to wonder that they belong to the same age group, yet the stamina and power of Nadal was impossible to imagine. I was stunned for a moment and immediately googled to figure out his age and was surprised to find that Nadal was in his twenties!!! Ditto for cricketers, who despite being on TV month after month featuring some tournament or other, often retire from their field even before they hit mid-thirties. But, when you see them in person, they often appear older than people who are much elder to them. May be it’s the constant attention of media and repeatedly seeing their faces splashed across all forms, we/ I tend to assume they are aged? Don’t cross question the statement like “Does that mean seeing someone regularly makes them old? Then what about those in your family?”. There is no rhyme or logic behind that thought process just that I often tend to assume people in public spotlight especially movie stars and sport stars look aged pretty fast.
That’s why when I got to know that Sridevi was only 55, when she breathed her last, I was shocked and was pretty sure they got the numbers wrong. But astonishingly it was 55 and I was dumbfounded to say the least. For someone who has been acting in movies since the time of MGR and his peers, she must’ve been in her pre-teens when she was donning roles much elder to her age. I read some articles about her earlier life and it was nothing short of trauma. For those who consider the current day reality shows as abusing childhood in children, hers is a case in point from few decades back. Her on screen persona and the kind of acts that she has played in tamil and telugu industry and the roles that she started with in hindi industry, especially the sobriquet with which she became popular, definitely had a bearing on her personal life as well, with lot many cursing her to be family breaker. Popularity on public domain, invariably has a fallout on the personal life of the stars and Sridevi was no exception to that. No doubt she is one of the most celebrated artists across decades and some of her performances, especially in tamil movies like Johnny and Moonram pirai are sensational. With such childlike enthusiasm, one couldn’t be faulted for assuming, she was a grown up with a child’s mind, whereas it was vice versa.
With condolences pouring in by the second on social media on her demise, there are those who, as always, take contradictory positions, questioning the extraordinary show of sympathy and affection. Worldwide, sports and movies are two domains in which people attain cult status pretty quick and supporters and detractors aside, their claim to fame or infamy will always be set on stone. Agreed that there are so many burning issues raging the nation at present. In few days’ time Sridevi will be as fresh as the news of yesterday. But come her daughter’s movie launch, everything would be back on forefront with renewed vigor. Hope her daughter doesn’t go through the same cycle and have an easier and comparatively normal life.
But again, its show business and you would never know.
Comments
In a philosophical sense, the show must go on can be applied to every one of us. Every one of our lives are fleeting, and yet consider the amount of time we waste in squabbling, fighting and in matters mostly trivial.