Kangana Ranaut’s fight with journalists not a first; veteran scribes recall nightmarish encounters

Kangana Ranaut recently (July 7) got into a spat with a journalist at an event that ended on a bitter note for both the actress as well as the media personnel. However, this wasn’t the first time that a media event witnessed a celebrity lashing out at the journo brigade. Time and again, the two sections of the industry have had major run-ins. From Shah Rukh Khan, Jaya Bachchan, Deepika Padukone to Salman Khan and from Ranbir Kapoor to Parineeti Chopra, they’ve all indulged in a war of words with the journalists!

In fact, Bollywood history also has black chapters when the stars have wielded their star power to even hit or assault journalists. Govinda is known to have slapped a journalist on sets of his film, while the then-married couple Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh too had decades ago (1994) bashed up Kanan Divecha, who was the assistant editor of a leading film magazine, for having written about Amrita and Amitabh Bachchan. In fact the case went on for five years with High Court finally demanding that the couple apologise for the incident in 1999. Ace gossip columnist Devyani Chaubal also had her share of pangas with the stars, the most famous one being with Dharmendra who had chased her down for writing about his personal life involving Hema Malini.

Talking about it, senior journalist Bharati Dubey opines that it’s a-two way traffic and intimidating a journalist is just not done. “As a journalist our job is to ask the question fearlessly. That’s the essence of journalism. The celeb can choose to answer or not answer, but we cannot be intimidated by the celeb or their entourage. Why should the questions be sugar-coated or pre-approved? We are only doing our jobs and there should be no compromise there. That is unfair, though unfortunately, that’s what we see happening around us increasingly. The interference by their PRs is becoming the norm and sometimes even the organisations don’t back up their own journos in the long run.”

Bharati herself recalls times when she was asked to leave the sets on one account by a leading Bollywood diva and has had to confront several Bollywood A-listers. “I have done both, and it’s sad to see the celebs get so petty about these things some times.”

Saif Ali Khan had bashed Journalist Kanan Divecha in 1994

Veteran journalist Pammi Somal agrees and points out that while the stars would not drop in a thank-you if written well about, they would raise a stinker if one line is written that’s not in their favour. It’s clearly a love-hate relationship. They feed stories when it works in their favour and get upset if it doesn’t.

While recalling the infamous incidents with journalists like Devyani Chaubal and Keith D’Costa (he was pushed and threatened by Shah Rukh Khan at a film function), who’ve had physical run-ins with the stars, the veteran reveals that she too has had her share of star-wars with leading names and reasons, “For the stars it’s more about the star-power and ego nothing else. They think they can get away with throwing around their weight and these days that’s what is happening.”  She adds, “But they have to take the good, the bad and the ugly!”

Shah Rukh Khan.

Somal points out that the equation between journalists and celebrities has changed immensely over the years. She says, “Back then there were no filters and we had direct access to the stars. So whatever was there was between the stars and us. We would openly talk about their personal lives. Now, everything needs to be filtered before it reaches them and vice-versa to us from them. There’s nothing candid anymore. So, when their personal lives come under scanner on a larger platform since that’s where all the interactions happen, they get touchy about it. Today they feel they all become stars by social media, so one question that makes them uncomfortable and they wield their star power.”

As for celebs often accusing journos of not toeing their lines, both the senior industry experts feel that it’s incorrect. As public figures, they are to a great extent answerable to the public, that’s made stars out of them. So, it’s unfair to use journos to promote their films and suddenly draw back when they are asked questions that are out of the box.