Troll wars; How celebrities are staging comebacks against their haters
31 Oct 2014 12:00 AM GMT
Sid Mallya’s epic comebacks to insults marks a milestone in the fight against online hate
Alia from the video Genius of the year (Photo: Video grab)
Hyderabad: After the show No Boundaries during IPL 2012, Sidhartha Mallya is back with his solo web series Sid Sessions. And the 27-year-old is back with a bang, as the first episode, which was broadcast on October 28, garnered 54,000 views in the first 24 hours.
In the show, Sidhartha takes a dig at some of the “weird” statements that people have written about him on social media. “You are the lamest rich guy I have ever seen, do some charity,” wrote a user called tj_lala. To which Sid replied: “That’s really touching man, it’s really beautiful. First of all, I am not a rich guy, I have nothing. I am here in Los Angeles and I am technically unemployed.”
The show has received rave reviews on social media, especially from celebrities. Cricketer Virat Kohli tweeted, “Really funny video @sidmallya. Must watch people.” Cricketer Yuvraj Singh wrote, “This is hilarious.” Actress Nargis Fakhri tweeted, “Loved the 1st episode. When I come to LA I wanna be on #SidSessions!”
But it was actress-model Sophie Choudry who hit the bull’s eye with her tweet: “One of the funniest QnA’s Ive seen! Love a man who can laugh at himself! #SidSessions”.
To laugh at themselves and not throw a stone at every dog that barks, is the mantra that the present generation swears by. And since everybody can’t come up with something witty at the drop of a hat, they wait for the storm to pass and then hit back, just like Alia Bhatt and Sidhartha Mallya.
Rather than letting haters ruffle their feathers, celebs of today are practicing the approach of remaining calm, refraining from violence or profane retorts and giving back in a manner that is not only matter-of-fact but also very witty.
Deepika Padukone made her point loud and clear during the “cleavage row”, an act that earned her respect from people across the world. And Alia Bhatt’s self-deprecating “Genius of the Year” video was a national sensation too.
T’town actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu says that picking up a fight with every random person who says something negative about you will actually help no one.
“I have received a lot of hate on social media, but retaliation never works. If you punch someone in the face, they are going to turn around and punch you harder,” Samantha says, adding, “I believe as actors we take ourselves way too seriously. I mean, our job is certainly not that serious. We should, in fact, be able to poke fun at ourselves; that’s the best way to go about it. I have seen Alia Bhatt’s video and completely loved it. As actors, we should be able to take criticism in our stride too. But having said that there will always be few people who’ll cross the line.” And when it comes to crossing the line, who can forget the nasty trolling business that involved singer Chinmanyi Sriprada who even filed a police complaint against the person who trolled her.
There’s a fair bit of insight too about how the Twitter generation is dealing with personal attacks.
Daniel David, sociologist and professor at Madras Christian College, says, “One of the explanations for people not letting the criticism affect them is that the present generation doesn’t take itself too seriously, there’s no one thing that defines them. So, they don’t get affected by taunts. I wouldn’t say there is anything wrong or right about the trend, because there is a flipside to almost everything. But taking a dig at themselves certainly saves them from getting hurt,” he adds.
( Source : dc )
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