Meryl Streep, one of the most talented face of cinema in the world, stole the show at the 74th Golden Globe Awards with her inspiring and powerful speech about the newly elected US President and the issues plaguing the industry. Streep was honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award and made quite an impact on her co-actors as well as on the millions of people watching her.
In India, Bollywood celebs took to twitter to praise Streep for her ‘gutsy’ speech. Sadly what they don’t realise is that the crazy loonies on twitter sitting behind a screen will always castigate them for speaking their mind – and also for not speaking at all.
What Twitterati wants to know is, “Why can’t Bollywood be more like Streep?”
“Knee deep bow for the courage to openly slam Trump at #GoldenGlobe …Only if Bollywood could muster courage and take a cue!”, one user wrote, while another one adds, “How many of our stars have the spine to speak like Streep, More power to her.”
To such people, have you really forgotten the time when Aamir Khan was bashed for commenting on the intolerance of the country? Remember how he was branded as an anti-national and was asked to go to Pakistan. Or the time when Karan Johar had to pay a hefty sum as a ‘fine’ for casting a Pakistani Actor, Fawad Khan and he was severely criticised for not paying attention the innumerable talent in India.
So how can you expect Bollywood Celebs to speak their mind freely without being constantly slammed by an army of crazy foul-mouthed people? If these celebs choose to keep mum about certain prevailing issues it is only because of the political wrath they have earned and the forcible bans their movies have suffered in the past.
And even those ‘brave’ souls who still react to situations, usually opt for a safe way out – record a video and post it on twitter from the safe purview of their luxurious homes.
We may not have a Meryl Streep in Bollywood, but we also don’t have a respectful audience who can support the voices that stand against the injustice in the country.
Maybe it is not just Bollywood that needs to grow a spine, but we, as a society, need it too, along with a broad and tolerant mind.
