Eulogies and thereon….

The past one year has been laden with demise of numerous noted figures: Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dara Singh, Jagjit Singh, Rajesh Khanna to name a few. An air of sadness surfaces with such unexpected events, and those who care and are genuinely concerned must get affected also.

The stars who left us weigh heavy in stature at some point or the other. They all had talent widely celebrated and made tall contribution to the society in their hay days; some even died working. Among them were those who faced frailty both in health and stardom with growing age and widening gap.

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that some lived a depressed, dilapidated life as stardom dissociated itself from them.  With advent of internet and media, a business that has flourished the most in the wake of such events is of Eulogy. R.I.P, a term that I believe Hindu middle class was ever oblivious of, has now become obvious and a must know.

As the star takes his last breath, every news channel has to carry a breaking news tag – so and so died. Some will go to an extent to state – we are the first one to report the death owing to our deep connections in the family. In no time, netizens spring to action and what follows is a flood of RIPs. Some get creative and upload lyrical text, pictures, videos, audios, and many more.

 The sight has often perplexed me as I think to myself – did anyone care when they were alive? By having decorated, cosmetic concerning posts, are we celebrating their life or death? Often than not those who are the most excited are among the least informed on the person, leave aside having emotional bond or attachment. Then you have fellow FBians liking and commenting on each others’ posts.   

The classic case is of Rajesh Khanna. I have watched quite a few of his movies. I always liked him and somewhat aware of his stardom and superstar status. I also heard stories about he was sidelined and suddenly brought to pits from the height that he had achieved in his not so long career.

It seemed from reports in media that he did not live a happy life ever since he lost his star tag. His personal life was ruined as his close ones alienated him. He was not given due respect and attention by the industry as he grew older. People would mock at his state of being and rarely visit him to check on his health and well being. I think all had kept it in reserve and were waiting for him to die.

His death on the other hand appeared to be a two day festival celebrated across the country. Internet, TV and newspapers all flooded with his photographs and great wordings on him and his work. Something that late Rajesh Khanna would have appreciated and enjoyed had even 1/10^th of this fanfare was bestowed upon him while he was alive. His appearance in Havells commercial testifies the fact that he longed for recognition and fanfare.

He might have tried to make an appeal through the commercial but that too was mowed down by us. He left gasping for more from life and his fans. I do not wish to come across critical of this trend, but yes I am amazed at life and its mean ways. It is heartening to see Mr. Dilip Kumar, another phenomenon, being celebrated in his lifetime. The industry does turn up to celebrate his birthday.