In the entertainment industry, especially like ours that observes hero worship; fans mobbing and jostling over actors in a public space to get a selfie or two clicked isn’t new. We’ve often come across videos of fans jumping railings, running past security guards, hurriedly climbing podiums and pushing everyone only to savor a moment to touch the feet of their revered actor, or take a picture with them thereby scaring, traumatizing or making the latter visibly uncomfortable.
A similar incident was observed with actress Priyanka Mohan at the audio launch of her upcoming film – Brother, where a fan barges in to click a picture with her, to which the actress in a sarcastic tone asks him if he wants to come inside and sit with her in the car. In another video on the same day, she condemns another fan for stalking her from a mall to her house and advises him against it.
This incident is not isolated nor has Priyanka Mohan been the only victim to such creepy behavior from fans. Many male actors including superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Vijay Devarakonda among others have had such unexpected and frenzied encounters with fans who breach security to meet them and are often then dragged out of the stage by their guards but none received as much hate as the actress did.
Encroaching one’s personal space, celebrity or not, is a violation of their privacy but what’s shocking is the vast number of social media users calling her ‘rude’, ‘ a show-off’ and disregarding her performance as an actor/dancer.
Women who set boundaries, reiterate consent or say no are often shamed as ‘disrespectful’ and ‘too proud’ – and this is a reaction received in all facets of a woman’s life including work, family, and among friends. A simple act of defending one’s boundaries should never be a blow to a man’s ego that he resorts to characterizing the woman as ‘prude’, ‘killjoy’ or cyber-bullying her with mass hate speech because no woman owes anything to anyone even if she’s your wife, girlfriend, sister, mother, or your favorite actress in the entertainment industry.
Also take the case of Harini Sundarajan (Aishu from Lover) who was bullied for playing a character that advises her friend to break up from a toxic relationship, or the case of Taapsee Pannu who was also bullied for denying a selfie with a fan during the promotions of her movie ‘Khel Khel Mein’ – Indian men, especially the ones on social media find it very easy to fall back on anonymously trolling a woman who express the slightest amount of objection, by commenting on her attitude, dressing sense or decoding her “bad” performance as an actress to drag her down.
