sleepwalktalk

Dr. Padmabhushan Megastar Chiranjeevi: This is probably the longest link for any living/dead/legended celluloid star on Wikipedia. And the link takes you to a man, whose life's graphs always shot well beyond their coordinates.

All film stars are larger than life. But this is someone monolithic. His name, fame, his films, family, his business, charity, his presence, his labels – all so towering that no ordinary mortal can even look up at him without being blinded, leave alone summon the strength to sling mud at him.

And when a mere mortal actually tries to recall the star is human too, the retribution is swift, irrational, disproportionate and merciless. Few withstood the tsunami of fury that bubbled upwards from the ocean of humblest of fans to the leaders of the associations, themselves important members of civil society in that capacity.

Let me stick to the strange experiences widely known. A journalist who dared to say a certain mega movie was average had his car burnt down by incensed fans. Another who gave a three star rating was almost killed on Film Nagar road in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, involving a lorry and a wonderfully freakish accident, staged in perfect filmi manner. Call it sheer coincidence. And another journalist who committed the blasphemy of saying that it is time this talented actor considered meatier roles and made a special place for himself in the annals of Telugu cinema, is threatened with grave (pun intended) consequences and is asked to 'publicly apologise' since her review in the largest circulated Hyderabad daily does not - for the zillionth time in the history of cinema writing - say the mega star dances well.

When Chiranjeevi’s film is released, it is with a record number of prints, to record collections. When he makes a public appearance, it is mass frenzy. Every award he wins is followed by a million other eulogies, wishing for the sun, moon and everything in between. So much so, another demi god of the Indian screen, Amitabh Bachchan, himself went so far as to say nothing less can be a worthier tribute than the Bharat Ratna for this actor. And when he seeks support, it is Kishkindha resurrected in support of their Lord.

The man himself, once one manages to access him breaking through the purportedly protective layers of fans and well-wishers, is a man worth knowing. Ever courteous, humble and remarkably balanced, Chiranjeevi demonstrates how exactly he has succeeded in winning hearts on and off the screen. And why his one plea can make his otherwise belligerent fans go all charitable, donating eyes and blood to the now-massive Chiranjeevi Blood bank with a visible sense of pride.

And today, as his young, stoic daughter faces a battery of cameras, displaying an almost scary clarity of thought, even those who have been at the receiving end of the wrath of his fans, remember him with a pang of sympathy.

Like always, this is big too. It is big rejection from a chit of a girl, who took three of our largest institutions – media, police and courts - along with her, in her stride against a celebrity father, who never seemed anything but benevolent. And that she should hold the hand of a faceless young man in her defiant voyage. The news is big, the father's reaction shell-shocked, the family's response befuddled. And, for once, his fans are speechless. They just do not know what to say, which side to take in this clash of the Titan and his toddler.

A journalist would understand the media's avid interest in the entire bizarre episode. The tone is of suppressed delight, the frame enlarged to fit in the blown up dimensions of a small flutter. The clamour of statements, interviews and investigations much louder in face of dignified silence from the wounded parent.

It is the first-ever opportunity for the media to peep into a life that has never dipped once it touched the skies of stardom; into the insides of a persona who never let anything but humility appear on his handsome face. It is a chink in armour carefully built around a man who was positioned beyond even reasonable critique. It is a chance to throw pebbles at someone who has, for many years, been a colossus, not a mere human. And, this probably, is the only chance they would ever get.

Stardom disproportionate to human scale spawns anomalous public responses. Glorification of a pedigree generates obnoxious curiosity about roots. And a mega star's personal life and trauma become comic book stuff, dinner-time conversation and luscious dissection pieces for lustful media.

It is another day. Another scandal. The drooling public turns to a new piece of bone. And the story of the young couple is forgotten. But, while it lasted, at least some people must surely have given this saga a dramatic title - Poetic Justice!