‘How do you recover from a fractured society?’
Kavita Awaasthi
Instead of talking about job losses, sinking GDP or high number of Covid-19 positive cases, everyone is trying to gain advantage from someone’s death,” says actor Nakuul Mehta. Talking about the “media circus” around late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend, actor Rhea Chakraborty, he says, “I understand that media covering the investigation is a business, but we are losing sight of the fact that it is a human under investigation. This social media trial is extremely disturbing. We are battling a number of issues in our country. We will soon be number one in Covid-19 cases, industries are opening up as the economy is in the dumps and it is easy to deflect issues.” He feels that from paying tribute to Rajput and talking about mental health, “now it is about a particular political party using the memory of the deceased actor on posters to get votes” and the media creating primetime news based on a woman being vilified while she is being investigated”. Mehta, 37, asserts that he is “on neither side”. “Let the country’s justice system decide who is right and wrong. Who are we to judge?” he questions. He finds it particularly appalling that social media is so divided. “People are hashtagging mental health to get mileage and make their brand stronger. I feel the lowest point, for us hasn’t been the pandemic, but how humans have become vultures. We will have a vaccine for Covid-19 and we’ll go back to better times, but how do you come back from a society which is fractured? Social media is adding to the
Phatred... We are losing our humanity to put out a point every day,” he rues. The only way the actor can deal with it is by not staying quiet. “I don’t want to get into a fight or virtue call anyone, but if we don’t stand up for humanity, you’re actually on the other side. That’s where the poem Giddh came from,” Mehta says, mentioning a poem he recited on Instagram that talked about humans becoming vultures. “Everyone is on a hunt to find a villain... I feel helpless and angry, and I don’t know who to blame. If standing up means being trolled, then I need to find ways by not countering hate by hate but by being compassionate,” he asserts. Scan the QR code to read what experts say about the rising number of celebrities endorsing hygiene brands