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The other side of our celebrities!
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How
much do we know about our celebrities? Quite a
lot, we might think. Especially with the kind
of media coverage that we have. But, the fact
is that in spite of heavy and widespread coverage
of celebrity lives by media, we still do not know
a huge lot about the complete personality of celebrities.
The highly intrusive media focuses only on the
one dimension of the personality that they choose
to reveal. But, an accomplished celebrity might
have much more interesting facets to his/her personality
than what is obvious from their claim to fame
in the public domain. By interesting facets, I
do not intend to get into the personal secrets
of a celebrity. This is not about those types
of facts, but ones that are genuinely interesting.
We often tend to slot celebrities into a certain
set of characters based on what they do in their
profession. We often fail to realize that a celebrity
can be a lot more than what they do regularly
in their career. I am sure that many of you have
read the book ‘Alice in Wonderland’,
one of the landmarks in English literature. Anyone
who has read this
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book
is sure to have thought of Lewis Carroll as a simple,
fun loving children’s writer who read a lot of
fairy tales and stuff as a child. While that may be
true, it is also important to know that he was also
an accomplished mathematician of his times. There is
a small anecdote about how Lewis Carroll surprised everyone
with his range of skills.
‘Alice in Wonderland’ got so famous that
the then queen of England wanted to read it. She too
immensely liked it and ordered that Lewis Carroll’s
next book be brought to her immediately upon publication.
Honored by this, even Lewis Carroll dedicated his next
book to the queen. But, the queen was shocked and surprised
when she received a book titled ‘An elementary
treatise on determinants’. Even we are unlikely
to have believed that a children’s writer can
be a respected mathematician at the same time. But,
Lewis Carroll was.
All of us know and have enjoyed watching Arnold Schwarzenegger
on screen. But almost all of us would have thought of
him only as a professional body builder, not one capable
of anything else too serious in life, until he surprised
everyone by becoming the Governor of California. Okay,
maybe his immense popularity as a movie star could have
propelled his victory in the elections the first time.
But, it is only popularity gained by good governance
in the first term that can help in re-election.
And, it is not just the big Hollywood stars that are
capable of such digressions from their screen or popular
personality perceptions. We have had many huge stars
that have proved that they are more than only stars,
but men and women capable of serious thoughts and actions.
Tamil cinema has a whole lot of such examples, many
of whom are today in the highest echelons of power in
the state.
Ajith Kumar is a rare exception who has revealed two
dimensions of his personality. That is because his other
passion outside cinema (formula racing) is also a popular
field of sport. But, there are a whole lot of others
who have dimensions to their personalities that can
really take us by surprise.
We all know Nagarjuna as a stylish, flashy and flamboyant
movie star who came from one of the most powerful families
in the Telugu film industry. There is a perception that
he walked into cinema because of his family name and
that there is nothing much else to him than acting.
But the fact is that he has been educated in some of
the premiere institutions in India and the USA. He is
a former student of College of Engineering Guindy, University
of Michigan and University of Louisiana.
Vennira Adai Murthy to all audiences is only a man who
can make funny noises with his mouth. But, he is also
credited with being an expert in astrology, something
all of us are unaware about. And, how many of us would
have thought during his acting years that Sivakumar
is capable of such literary accomplishment like bringing
out ‘Kamban En Kadhalan’. Napoleon might
just be the actor who portrays earthy role wielding
the sickle to most audiences, but that apart he is also
a highly successful businessman. And, no actor would
be handed the portfolio of Social Justice and Empowerment
at the center unless everyone concerned was convinced
of his ability to carry off such a responsibility.
Rajinikanth’s spiritual side, Sylvester Stallone’s
scripting and directorial skills, Mohanlal’s fascination
for antique collection etc. are interesting facets of
our celebrities’ personalities that can change
they way we perceive them. In most cases, our celebrities
have much more to them than what we see on screen.
Respond
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