𑣲⋆。˚ stupid reasons i got cancelled in my fame dr except its india so its 10x more insane
so obviously, my dr has a lot of changes to india that make it a generally better place to live. we have a socialist government that actually cares about the people, caste has been destroyed, dr ambedkar and bhagat singh instead of gandhi or nehru are scene as the founding fathers and society is just fairer and way more developed. imo, its india if india in this reality had its potentially fulfilled.
HOWEVER. it would not be india without the quirks. the eccentricities. the sheer insanity of bollywood fandom. this is the country where people make elegies out of celebrities, literally threaten the worst when their favourite actor is mildly inconvenienced and sell out the worst films just because a superstar's face is tacked on it. so of course, insanity is to expected.
so with that in mind, here are the stupidest reasons i got cancelled (for like 2 business days before people loved me again) in my fame dr.
so, to start off with, i got accused of smoking and people went INSANE.
for some context, smoking is a huge no-no in india culturally for actors and actresses. shah rukh khan used to hide his cigarettes and work like crazy to get rid of smoking rumours just because of fan reactions.
fans want their celebrities to be healthy and promoting good behavior. smoking is not just a nuisance to the celeb but to those around them. or at least, that's the idea.
anyway, i got smoking accusations after it was leaked that a film set of mine smelt like nicotine, particularly near my trailer.
here's the funny bit, though, because it actually wasn't me; it was my co-star, who smoked quickly during breaks near my trailer to cool his cravings. my co-star quickly admits it and promises to quit, calming fans who support him on his journey to sobriety. fan societies also published formal apologies to me in newspapers. ofc, i remain silent and mysterious (as i always am), but secretly i am relieved.
but for those three days where i was a supposed chain smoker? i could not escape "cigarette ka addict" i swear.
for some even wilder allegations, i got dating rumours with a secretly married co-star who was forced to leak his marriage. yep. of course, the press love to spread lies and misinformation (like nanami) so they went haywire after they saw me hugging my co-star at a party. btw he was inviting me to the civil ceremony.
anyways they spread all sorts of rumours; that we're having a secret affair, that his father (a famous actor) doesn't approve of me, that we're going to elope. mind you, my s/o is the jealous type too, so he ended up being super broody about it too lol. thankfully this was before we got into a relationship and it actually spurred his confession.
anyways, so my poor co-star has to call a press conference where he announces his marriage to an industry outsider and asks for privacy. fan associations go crazy, boycott the press and the times of india even issues a formal apology ON TELEVISION for posting an opinion piece about the rumours. it was a whole thing. but my co-star is happily married and i got into a relationship soon after so hey, it worked out in the end!
so as a malayali, someone who speaks the dravidian language malayalam, i am a foreigner to the hindi-speaking bollywood industry. because i'm on that nonchalant sh in my dr, it rarely comes up, until a journalist in an interview asks me if i'd prefer to work in hindi or malayalam. i say malayalam, as its my native tongue and easier for me to speak.
hindi press go insane! talking about some "hindi is the national language" bs as if in my dr english isn't the most commonly spoken neutral language and the ACTUAL national language. thankfully they get called out pretty quickly by my fans, and the mfn GOVERNMENT steps in to be like "hey, so english is the national language and not hindi, don't spread lies." they even crack down, fine and censor some of these publications for spreading false information.
anyways this actually boosts local cinema around india, so its a good thing overall. many tamil and malayali stars also get more fan recognition because of this scandal. for me? its just another tuesday, because i'm playing viola from twelfth night at the globe in london while this all goes down. LOL.
to conclude, the indian film industry can be crazy at times. fans are devoted, the press is always on the hunt and the government only really steps in when things get rogue. however, the passion the fans have to the industry means that at the same time, they are incredibly responsible. unlike this reality, following celebrities just means in my reality to respect a celebrity's work, not them as a person. this means that scandals tend to get resolved quickly because people actually have an incentive to not be evil, and fans are more critical of the industry's bad practices, creating a better environment.
does that mean the drama is any less wild? nuh-uh. it is still insane. i should probably make a seperate post about all the wild stuff that actually happens in my dr.
but for now, i hope you enjoy a sneak peak behind the curtain of bollywood!