Interviewers are clearly not having a good time. Only a few days ago, a reporter had asked Tamil filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon a question about a Mani Ratnam film, apparently mixing up the work of the two directors. Gautham Menon, without losing his cool, answered the question as if he was Mani Ratnam, not bothering to correct the reporter. Naturally, a short clip of this question and answer soon went viral. Bloopers like these, humiliating to the interviewer, but often taken in a lighter vein by everyone else, have been made as long as there have been interviews.
But nothing beats the unexpected outburst of Malayalam actor Sreenath Bhasi during an online media interview recently. A woman interviewer was asking him a question related to the title of his new film Chattambi (meaning rowdy). The question was to rank five actors according to their rowdiness. Bhasi, who initially seemed annoyed, grew angry, saying that he was getting pissed off with these “f**king questions”. He allegedly went on to use abusive language towards the crew after the camera was turned off. The incident came out when the Behindwoods team, which conducted the interview, put out a short clip later. The woman filed a police complaint, and five days later, Bhasi was arrested under charges of insulting the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment and obscene utterances in public place.
While the conduct of Bhasi, who has been a favourite among young movie lovers, surprised many, this is not the first time that a Malayalam male actor’s interview has gone awfully wrong or awkward. A few months ago, Dhyan Sreenivasan, in an interview, spoke about the Me Too movement in a rather insensitive manner, which promptly invited a lot of criticism. In another interview afterward, Dhyan apologised for his comments and explained the Me Too movement, stating that every little act of harassment — from an inappropriate stare or comment that made a woman uncomfortable — came under the purview of sexual harassment.
Bhasi too gave an interview afterward to Reporter TV’s Nikesh Kumar, but he denied verbally abusing anyone. However, a video clip of another recent interview, in which the actor is seen using cuss words against a male anchor, did not help Bhasi’s case. He did say he was sorry, but the explanation seemed vague and corrective of the harm done to the prospects of Chattambi.
So the question, in very basic terms, is this: what happened to these actors, who had come into show business flashing friendly smiles and waving hellos, looking very much like one of us? Without delay, rumours sprang up. “They are high,” the tattlers told anyone who listened, “they are all high, the whole darned generation”. Bhasi is not the only ‘culprit’ here, a few other young actors too fell into the same bracket.
Some time ago, an interview strip of Shane Nigam, in which he gave a rather cryptic answer to a common question by two women anchors, brought him the same label. High. Shine Tom Chacko's acceptance speech after receiving an award recently was also similarly noticed for its ‘bizarreness’. Another interview bit showed him as pretty unperturbed, while answering a question about the difficulty of smoking in public. As someone who was once involved in a case of drug use, his nonchalance attracted attention.
Interestingly, all the actors who fall into this bracket are often lauded for their outstanding performances and selection of movies. This has always been a favourite topic of discussion among movie buffs — how important is the off-screen version of their favourite actors, should it matter at all, and if it should, where do you draw the line? Long ago, when you barely had access to how the stars behaved in real life, you had to believe what the magazines told you. Even when television came, it took a while for celebrity interviews to be common. And interviews did not just happen after every single movie of every single actor. There had to be occasions, the actors or other members of the industry should have proven themselves in some manner to merit an interview. But when the number of electronic media channels grew, when newspapers began printing supplements exclusively for film news everyday, the interviews became far too many. Actors began fixing a day prior to a movie release to line up all the interviews together, so they wouldn't need to do it on and on. And interviews most often became just that: a means of promotion of a film, rather than an in-depth profile or larger perspective.
Somewhere in that shift, the focus of interviews also got lost in its need to stand out from the rest. After a few routine questions about an upcoming movie, what more could you ask an actor that would make it interesting for both the parties, and more importantly, for the audience. That’s when “fun” questions and props began to appear. After the Behindwoods interview of Bhasi, there was a strong criticism of the kind of questions posed to actors. Bhasi, in his interview with Nikesh, said that he had done a number of interviews already on the day of the incident and was stressed out.
It is no justification, but it still raises the question of how interviews are conducted in different media. There is no standard list of questions or answers. The questions, fun or serious, may offend the person at the other end without you ever having such an intention. And vice-versa, hurtful reactions of an interviewee may sometimes end up like it did in Bhasi's case, even though most often reporters let it go, for not wanting to displease a star. Personally, I have been yelled at as soon as I introduced myself as an online media reporter.
Some said that Bhasi could have refused to answer the question if he didn’t like it, or walked out of the interview. He could have. Mid-air walkouts are legendary in television. Karan Thapar would tell you.
End of the day, it is humans at both ends of an interview, either one may snap, turn emotional, act in all the different ways humans are prone to when they are under stress. The old debate of whether it matters what actors are like in real life cannot hold at a time like now. Whether they want it or not, parts of their lives are out there, if not in social media, then in someone else's page, or paparazzi's ‘candid’ shots. And while they are out there, it begins to matter because people have noticed, they have judged the actor, made up their mind about liking the actor or not, based on the off-screen version.
It is not easy on the actors either, every little act of theirs inviting so much attention. Whatever stand an actor takes in whatever trivial matter, they will still be holding a view opposite to some sections of people, because not everyone shares the same opinion. Some actors who have understood this much early, put very little of them out there, and evade as many interviews as possible. Fahadh Faasil, a case in point.
It is not a new thing, judging public figures for the personal choices they make. If before, it was about their marital affairs or relationships, the internet and visual media took it up a notch to every public action. These ‘problematic’ behaviours are often subjective. Does it matter that Mohanlal went on stage once and behaved like he was drunk? It would, if he had caused harm to another person.
It is not that women actors are entirely free of blame. Mallika Sukumaran, in a recent interview, seemed to speak in favour of Vijay Babu, accused of sexually assaulting a fellow woman actor, by asking the question that many opposed to the Me-Too movement ask: “why did she have to go meet him again and again after the first time something went wrong?”
This is however, yet again a view, and it would not do to draw lines at views. For that, you have laws in place. In case we forget, and sometimes blind adoration makes one forget, actors are human beings and the law applies to everyone. When you are talking about off-screen personas, there are much larger issues than an actor's views. Like if they have a criminal side, or the kind of harm they might have caused another person. Then, it matters.
Going back to media interviews of celebrities, one hopes that all the fresh attention may be used to positive ends: like practising mutual respect, giving thought to framing questions, being sensitive, and forgiving one another for the little things.