Bollywood, Drugs and Violence
Fame and glamour are a heady mix and there are very few who manage to remain grounded despite the high they offer. Bollywood has sometimes been in the news for all the wrong reasons and some of our reel heroes have been in the news for their aberrant behaviour in real life.
Bollywood's bad boys have had their share of run-ins with the law; be it drugs, alcohol or a history of violent relationship with women, our stars have often fallen from grace. While the media hype around these cases claims to uncover Bollywood's dark underbelly and the law plays a merely farcical role, the bigger question that needs to be addressed is the lack of any remedial approach to deal with such recklessness.
Lindsay Lohan
Charlie Sheen
While Hollywood and the law abroad does a good job of trying to reform errant behaviour, be it with their celebrities or the common people, we in India as a society have failed to make reformation an integral part of accepted practice.
Sanjay Dutt's self-confessed substance abuse was a much talked about episode once. While he became an addict after his mother's death, he managed to overcome the weakest phase of his life with the support of his family.
Fardeen Khan was caught trying to buy cocaine and booked under Section 28 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. While he was released later, we heard nothing of him going for rehab. His father, Feroze Khan was even quoted as saying, "Why single out Fardeen? Eight out of 10 kids in Bollywood are drug users." Well then, do two wrongs make a right?
Salman Khan's history of violent relationships is as infamous as is the star's onscreen popularity — whether it is how he broke a bottle on Somy Ali's head, or how Aishwarya Rai walked out after two years of an abusive relationship, or the rumour on how he allegedly slapped Katrina on the sets of 'Yuvraaj'. Salman was also charged in the hit-and-run case that killed one and injured four others. There is little doubt he needs help. But have he heard anything about Sallu ever going in for any kind of remedial therapy?
Should rehabilitation be made an integral part of disciplinary action in India, especially for movie stars? Is it time to rethink the way we deal with star delinquents? Share your views with us. You can also connect with me on Twitter.
