From Deepika Padukone to Akshay Kumar, B-Town stars become catalysts for social issues

Recently, Barry Gibb of the legendary pop band Bee Gees, spoke about having faced sexual abuse as a child, starting at the age of four. It’s rare that celebrities choose to openly talk about taboo topics and it’s even more rare for male celebrities to do so. Most like to keep their personal lives private, let alone talk about sensitive issues. But those who do, become an inspiration for many common folks to speak about their own issues, battle their demons and seek help. The once shy and politically correct Bollywood is changing, and in a good way. In recent years, B-Town has seen many actors speak up about social issues. Some have even spoken in public about problems they have been struggling with, thus, shattering the picture perfect image that we have of them, and displaying a more human side to them. But does celebrity endorsement of issues help the cause?

Celebs are seen as heroes

Mansi Hasan, Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Tobacco Treatment Specialist says that celebrity endorsement of issues helps a lot. “Celebrities are seen as heroes. From a layman’s perspective, ‘If it (a certain problem) can happen to them, then it’s okay for me to talk about it as well.’ There’s no need to be ashamed. Celebrities seem to lead perfect lives, and if they speak up about facing certain problems, it makes them more ‘real’. Even the media gives the issue more attention,” she explains, adding that after Deepika Padukone spoke about battling depression, Hasan has had more young women with depression coming to her. “These women came forward to seek help because they could relate to Deepika,” says she.

Young guns are more open and expressive

Hasan says that today celebrities are voicing their political opinions, social or emotional issues thanks to social media unlike earlier times but that too, only to a certain extent. That’s because they’re afraid of being penalised for it. “Around 15 years ago, celebrities didn’t speak about facing emotional issues. One would learn about it only much later in the newspapers, if a celebrity committed suicide. Today’s younger generation of celebrities are on social media, they’re more open and expressive. Even the older generation tries to ape them, and speak up about issues. Therefore, celebrity endorsement of issues has more impact,” says Hasan, who has dealt with some celebrity clients from Bollywood and TV industry, who face emotional issues but want to keep it strictly under wraps because they want to maintain this ‘perfect’ image of themselves.

Each to his own

Does she think celebrities have a social responsibility to speak up about various issues because they are major influencers or should we just let them be? Hasan believes in each to his own, however, she adds, “They are powerful individuals. If they use their power for welfare of the society, it would be wonderful. If Deepika speaking about battling depression or any other celebrity opening up about some other issue, has even 10 girls seeking professional help to deal with the same issue, it’s great!”

Not all celebs back up the cause

Film critic Raja Sen opines that celebrity endorsement of issues definitely does help, the best example being that of Deepika. “However, there are others stars who do come forth in favour of causes but they don’t back it up or follow it through. For example, you have XYZ speaking up for a particular cause initially and later it is forgotten. The consistency is not there. On the other hand, there are some celebrities who are working consistently for the causes they have taken up,” he says, citing the example of actor Kunal Kapoor who’s lending his support to Ketto, a crowdfunding platform for various social and charitable causes. “The public has a good eye for knowing which celebrities are speaking up on issues, to stay in the news, to be in the limelight before the release of their movie or whether they are genuinely doing it for the cause,” he adds.

Media looks at film stars for answers 

Sen says, “I feel it’s a celebrity’s prerogative to speak up or take up a cause. The problem in India and the media is that we look at film stars for answers to everything, which is incorrect. You can’t ask them for answers on politics or nuclear weapons. Their job is to entertain us on-screen and they are doing it. If someone is working for a cause, it’s good but you can’t expect everyone to take up social issues.” He adds that the sincerity and consistency towards working for a cause will come only if they genuinely want to do it.

Any publicity is still publicity

Preeti Naravane, counsellor with Manav Foundation, an NGO which works for mental health, too agrees that celebrity endorsement of issues does help. “In the field of mental health, lack of awareness is the biggest problem.

When some celebrities say they’re dealing with a certain mental health issue, most often it does not match the description of the mental illness or symptomology. For example, in Dear Zindagi, it does not exactly capture how therapy works. So, when people come to us, they have different ideas of how therapy works. But anyway, it is still helpful because any publicity is still publicity. We prefer actual publicity, if things are portrayed the way they actually are. But then something is better than nothing. So people who actually face mental health issues/illness come to us to seek help,” says Naravane.

Even visibility helps, in the absence of celebrity endorsement

In recent years, the theme of homosexuality has gained some amount of visibility in Bollywood. Though no celebrity from mainstream Bollywood has come out of the closet, does the mere portrayal of gay characters in movies help? “It does make a difference and certainly helps,” says Richa Vashista, clinical psychologist and research interventionist at The Humsafar Trust, a community-based organisation which looks after the health, support and human rights of LGBTQ people. She recounts an instance where a young closeted gay man who went to watch Kapoor & Sons with his mother, had a discussion with her on the topic of homosexuality post the movie. Though he didn’t come out to her, he had a fair idea of her knowledge on the subject and how to go about it in the future. Also, after the topic of homosexuality was discussed on Satyamev Jayate, The Humsafar Trust witnessed a surge in number of calls from LGBTQ individuals.

Vashishta says, “A lot of people come to us asking if a certain filmmaker or an actor in Bollywood is gay or not. I say I don’t know and it doesn’t make a difference to me. However, it certainly does make a difference to people. They say, ‘Agar ye bhi gay hote, toh humein achha lagta, ke ye bhi humari tarah hain’.”

CELEB SPEAK

Deepika Padukone has spoken about her struggle with depression

Anushka Sharma opened up about suffering from anxiety

Sonam Kapoor has been vocal about gender payscale disparity in Bollywood

Nandita Das spoke out against racism in the media, obsession with fairness

Kalki Koechlin admitted to being sexually abused as a child

Manisha Koirala and Lisa Ray opened up about their battle with cancer

Farhan Akhtar launched MARD (Men Against Rape and Discrimination) campaign after his company’s legal advisor was murdered

Akshay Kumar sent out a string of tweets condemning Bengaluru mass molestation incident 

Harshvardhan Rane confessed to suffering from dyslexia

Hrithik Roshan has openly spoken of his stammering and how he went through speech therapy 

Sooraj Pancholi too talked about battling stuttering issues

Salman Khan admitted to suffering from a nerve disorder, Trigeminal Neuralgia