Hullabaloo at Wankhede

The daylong national controversy over the fracas involving Shah Rukh Khan at the Wankhede stadium late on Wednesday is a classic case of much ado about nothing. People — children as well as adults — get into arguments and even scuffles on our streets, trains, offices, playgrounds, colleges and schools all the time. A few hot words are exchanged, some pushing and shoving takes place, and then a couple of saner individuals step in and ensure that matters do not get out of hand.

How many of us can claim never to have even witnessed such an incident? Yet, an argument breaks out at a stadium or a five-star hotel involving one or the other celebrity and in no time the entire media and its uncle is weighing in on the issue of grave national importance, debating who was in the wrong, discussing how rules are being bent, and lamenting the fall in standards of public behaviour in general and celebrities in particular.

It is true that celebrities often have king-sized egos and tend to think of themselves as above the rules meant for ordinary mortals, but often it is the fawning fans among us who put them up on a pedestal where they begin to harbour these mistaken ideas. It is equally true that celebrities also then become a sort of lightning rod for all kinds of criticism and in an incident involving a celebrity, we often tend to assume that s/he must be at fault and the other person was just doing his/her job. But the truth may not always be so simple, as anyone who has dealt with the stuck-up types at the Mumbai Cricket Association (and sundry other such clubs of the rich and powerful) can tell you. But then, who’s listening?