Celebrity Gossip And Youth.

Celebrity gossip and youth
John has dumped Bipasha indicating there’s indeed trouble in paradise. Vidya and John have become best buddies!! Hang on these are just filmy rumors and have got nothing to do with the real picture. We are talking about the gossip columns dedicated to celebrities. In these columns who’s wearing what, who’s dating whom and who’s slapping who is mentioned. And what’s more?! The faithful readers lap up almost anything and everything about the favorite stars. Most of the youngsters will agree that the celebrity columns are the only things that they look forward to in a newspaper. The latest buzz is that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt visiting Pune for shooting a film. It’s the case of all smoke and no fire. Pune seems to be completely smitten by these rumors for articles and gossips about Brad and Angelina have been splashed across the entire newspaper for more than a week! Ashwini Paliwal a die hard fan of Brad Pitt and a student of fashion technology at SOFT feels that an unnecessary issue is being made about the ‘Brangelina’ visit. If at all they are visiting Pune there should be a public appearance and then they should be left alone to complete their work instead of creating a Brou ha ha about the entire thing.
So does it mean that celebrity gossip is really important topic among the youth .Well not everyone shares the same opinion on this. Some are least bothered about these futile gossips while there are few others who want to know every bit of available information about their favorite stars. One may question the authenticity of information mentioned in these columns as most of these turn out to be mere rumors. Take the example of Ash- Abhishek link up; many believe that this is just a publicity stunt for their forthcoming movie Umrao-Jaan. ‘Stars use such rumors to remain in limelight ‘says Ankita Chandawarkar, a SYBA student S.P college. While Jay Banpel a second year engineering student at SIT opines that stars are well beyond false publicity, they are too famous to resort to such tactics. Thus the general opinion is that this information is just a ‘time pass’ and not to be taken seriously.
Like it or not the bling factor serves a major attraction for the youth. Though one can’t help but read about personal lives of ones on-screen idols, almost everyone agrees to the opinion that there should be a limit for the media intervention in the private lives of celebrities.’ The life of celebrities is like that of an open book. Since they are idols for the youth they have to undergo severe public scrutiny and though ideally the media should draw the line where private matters are concerned it is a fact that gossips sells like hot cakes ‘says Sachi Agarwal a fashion student.
Another factor which comes across is the fact that it is the girl gang which indulges in gossiping more than the guys. It is the girls who are bothered about the on goings in the personal lives and love lives of film stars and socialites. Ankit Ranade an engineering student informs that usually guys just take a look at the attractive photos and that’s it while the female counterparts simply devour the related information .However most of the girls claim that they read things just for information and to keep themselves ‘updated’.
When asked whether celebrity stuff has any effect on the youth, one comes across a lot of mixed reactions. Some agree that it does have an effect on the way they dress up and get the ‘feel good’ factor by getting to know about high profile lifestyles .Again here too it’s the girls who are more concerned. Many girls agreed that they do keep a watch on the make up and dressing up of actresses and like dressing up same way. Revati Limaye a student at SOFT is of the opinion that the celebrities inspire the youth with their stylish lifestyles. And that is what they really look for when reading the gossip columns. However, when it comes to having the same hairdo that John Abraham sports not many guys believe in blindly aping the filmy awtaars. Niranjan Pandit, a second year engineering student brings in that gossiping is the sure shot way to increase interaction with friends, specially the girls as they enjoy gossiping more than anything else!
Many believe that profession or the academic course that one pursues has a strong connection with amount of indulgence in celebrity stuff. For instance somebody pursuing hard core pure sciences or medicine obviously won’t have the degree of interest that a student of photography or an aspiring model will have. Take example of students of fashion designing, they have to keep themselves updated with the latest trends in the world of fashion. Like it or not they need to keep a watch on the page 3 personalities in every possible way.
In the end it is the individual choice and priority that matters more than anything else. One may just read things and leave them for good or blindly follow what the rumor mills churn out. It’s ultimately up to the reader to decide for themselves what to read and how much it should affect them as responsible individuals of society. One must essentially learn to separate the reel life from real life.

- Prachi Mujumdar.
august 2007