SSR’s Death: The Case For Blind Items

SSR’s death a week back, has brought blind items under the scanner. But we believe blind items do serve a purpose. Read our article to know more!

Sushant Singh Rajput was a talented actor who made it in Bollywood on the basis of sheer grit & determination. After becoming a well-known TV actor, he transitioned seamlessly into the movies. It is not every day that a TV actor who hailed from Patna becomes a movie star. He starred in a string of hits. But the law of averages caught up with him & some of his movies flopped. But he managed to keep delivering hits time & again.

But despite him starring in Chichore – a superhit, he was rumored to have not been working on any movie in the last one year. The blind items hinted at his behavior with a newbie actress, his temper tantrums, his behavior at parties for him becoming an outcast in the industry. But the truth was that he had several projects in the pipeline. He was looking for bigger projects & was probably taking some time off. What nobody knew was that he was suffering from clinical depression.

When he committed suicide, fans went berserk & started attacking Karan Johar, Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt & entire “nepo-gang” of Bollywood. Fans even questioned us for publishing damaging blind items about the beloved star. Kriti Sanon & Kangana Ranaut too attacked the blind items culture. We too were at the receiving end of a lot of hate from fans. Facebook has stopped allowing us to post our articles on our facebook page. In fact one can’t even share our posts on Facebook or Instagram anymore.

Blind items are being attacked for damaging a celeb’s credibility without offering any proof. But the fans too have no proof to show that blind items were the reason behind Sushant going into depression. Or that he was even disturbed by them. A celeb is used to people about them all the time & even journos writing everything that they hear about them. What bothers them more is bad reviews for their movies as it affects their career.

The Purpose Of Blind Items

1)Assume that if we name a superstar openly & allege that he harassed an actress by subjecting her to the casting couch we would have been sent a legal notice. Although everyone in the industry would be aware of the superstar’s reputation, no one would dare to speak or write about it. In order to name & shame a superstar one needs to have solid proof. Or the celeb can take the blogger/journo to court & file a defamation case. But by publishing blind items we make people aware of what actually happened behind the closed doors.

2) We have time & again spoken against renowned celebs like Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Anurag Kashyap, Anubhav Sinha, etc who stayed mum during the MeToo movement. These celebs are very vocal about other issues affecting the citizens of the country, but won’t speak a word against their colleagues. Their careers are more important to them than the lives of women/men who are exploited. Anurag Kashyap will speak against the PM, but won’t say a word against Vikas Bahl – his partner who was accused in the MeToo movement. The “fearless” Kangana too won’t shame the culprits. Naming any of the culprits without solid proof openly can put us in legal trouble.

3) Despite knowing about some celebs being connected to the underworld, the cops have been unable to put the celebs behind bars. That is because there is never enough evidence to prove that the celebs are actually involved with the underworld in a big way. It is only blind items, newspapers & some news channels which can speak about the nexus between Bollywood celebs & the underworld. But even the news channels, newspapers can’t say much beyond a point. As speaking openly will mean that the celeb will stop giving interviews to that newspaper/TV channel.

But it was blind items who did the job of unmasking the sleazeballs. While they continue to carry on with their business like nothing happened, readers of blind items know the truth.

3) Not just exploitation, blind items even touch upon topics related to drug abuse, temper tantrums, domestic violence. Any celeb who tries to pass himself off as a saint will be unmasked via blind items.

Why Celebs Hate Them

Will a politician who is involved in shady deals every speak highly of that annoying ED or CBI officer who is always busting his/her scams? No celeb wants their true faces to be revealed. Blind items are a way to say the truth about celebs without worrying about consequences.

Every time an aspiring actor thinks about sleeping with a filmmaker or casting agent for money, he/she has to fear blind items. Whenever a celeb exploits outsiders in exchange for roles, his only fear is blind items being written about him/her. Celebs who are cheating on their spouses or have underworld connections only have blind items to fear.

Blind Items are like a needle, which pricks the celeb’s conscience

Blind Items Don’t Just Entertain

Any aspiring Sushant or a Kangana from small towns like Patna, Lucknow, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, etc who reads blind items will be aware about the true face of Bollywood. He/She will be mentally prepared for the shady casting agents, sleazeball filmmakers & arrogant superstars. They will know who to stay away from during their Bollywood journey. Even if they are ready to “compromise” they will know whom to approach!(who are we to judge). They will then be able to make an informed decision as to whether to leave their homes to pursue their Bollywood dreams.

An outsider who doesn’t read blind items on the other hand will be totally devastated when he/she sees the true face of Bollywood. After having fought with their families & vowing to “not return till they don’t succeed” they will go berserk wondering whether to give up or to keep trying. Imagine that small towner realizing that his favorite hero is in fact quite the villain! The actress he dreamed of marrying is a b&%h & a gold digger.

Even those people who come from U.P, Bihar & stand for hours outside their favorite celeb’s house hoping to catch a glimpse or a selfie, will better utilize their time. They won’t lose friends with whom they pick a fight just because they dared to speak against their favorite celeb.

Yes. Blind items are not perfect. They do have their flaws. But they do serve a very important purpose – of keeping the celebs in check. That is why we need them! That is why we will keep writing! But we will also verify every character damaging blind item which we publish henceforth.

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