QOTD: A celeb-starved society?

CATCH-22? Experts say it's a mutually exploitative relationship between stars and the media.

        

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New Delhi: After months of media speculation Bollywood's most-talked about couple, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, got engaged on Sunday evening in a closely-guarded ceremony.

The engagement took place soon after the couple returned from the premiere of their latest film Guru in New York and the news has literally kept the nation engaged ever since.

Does this mean that India is a celebrity-starved society? That's the question which was put forward by CNN-IBN's Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai on the show Face The Nation. On the panel of experts were actor and television anchor, Mandira Bedi; Ad guru, Alyque Padamsee; and senior journalist Madhu Trehan.

There was a sense of frenzy over the engagement as hundreds of fans and media personnel had gathered outside the Bachchan bungalow, Jalsa, in Mumbai, to catch a glimpse of the Bachchan family.

When asked if Indians were obsessed with stars in general and Aishwarya and Abhishek in particular, ad guru Alyque Padamsee said, "I think it's really the media which is obsessed with stars. All we see in newspapers today is Bollywood, Bollywood and more Bollywood with a little bit of cricket thrown in. It's a complete frenzy. What is going on?"

However, when told that the media had simply taken over from where the ad-men left, Padamsee said, "Yes, I agree. It's also the problem of advertisers who have gone mad about having celebrity brand ambassadors. But that can be understood for they are trying to make sales. However, I thought the news media was supposed to be giving us news not entertainment. It's a feeding frenzy."

Is the media responsible for this frenzy or is it simply reflecting the fact that it's Bollywood's Jodi No. 1 which is getting married and that makes for a great story?

To this Madhu Trehan said, "It's not the media that has gone crazy and neither is it that the audience are celebrity starved. It is basically a reflection of what India has become. It's a money making proposition."

She said that the film industry is an advertiser in all media with their films, their cinema and theatres and media houses would not turn down these great advertisements. "So it’s really the advertisers who decide the stars and these people are made stars by the business houses of the media," she said.

Do celebrities and media feed on each other?

So, is the relationship between stars and the media incestuous or do they simply feed on each other?

To this Mandira Bedi said, "Absolutely. They do feed on each other. I would like to know what the definition of 'breaking news' is nowadays. The fact that Aishwarya and Abhishek got engaged was breaking news on every channel on Sunday night and all through Monday morning. So, I am wondering whether the really important things in life are that important any more”.

However, she added that she agreed that it was a great story and since this is what the society wants, this is what the media will give them.

But stars in general are also marketing themselves. It's a part of the game that one needs to market themselves to be relevant – even Aishwarya and Abhishek almost needed to event manage their engagement.

Mandira Bedi disagreed with this saying that they don't need to event manage their engagement as the news channels and newspapers did the needful for them.

So do news channels have a defence in this regard, especially with ad-men and celebrities themselves attacking the media?

"It's a mutually exploitative relationship between stars and the media and in any exploitative relationship, it is very difficult because one always crosses the line. So a star will get up and say 'enough, this is my private life' or a journalist is compromised and is told 'I will give you an interview if you don't ask me about my affairs'," said Madhu Trehan.

To this Rajdeep Sardesai said that his own view as an Editor was that the 24-hour beast needed to cover both Nithari - a gruesome and terrible story - and the Ash-Abhisek engagement, a happy story.