If the tone of Dolly Bindra, an actress in Bollywood is not cringe-worthy, her questions are. Here is a mother, Pratyusha Banerjee’s mother, probably looking at the lifeless body of her daughter and in tears. The phone rings – it’s Ms. Bindra calling. Not to offer her condolences or any assistance but to ‘investigate.’ What happened, where was she hanging from, what is the number of her room in the hospital?
The act of calling a grieving mother and asking her such intrusive questions even before she has had time to fully process her daughter’s suicide is callous. But what takes it to newer lows is that Bindra recorded the conversation and then released the recording to media outlets, who then merrily played along and broadcast it. This, when the recording had nothing useful to add as news, and simply gave voyeuristic access to a mother’s grief.
Bindra has justified her acts in a post on her Facebook wall, insisting that she only made a recording because people refused to believe that Pratyusha was indeed dead.
However, it is hard to hear the recording and believe that Bindra had even the slightest intention of offering condolences to Pratyusha’s mother. Instead, her questions are brusque and directed strictly towards obtaining the information she wants.
We have heard of people who befriend the old and the rich to get a hold on their will and properties. We know ambulance chasers including journalists who run into hospitals and ambulances as people are breathing their last. The famous can make you famous even in death.
Banerjee, who took her own life on Friday, was a household name in India following her spectacular success in the television series Balika-Vadhu. She has also acted in other television serials. The reason why she took this extreme step remains unclear, but that has not prevented all and sundry including neighbours to launch a macabre guessing game.
Before she stoops to the level of asking a grieving mother what happened, Bindra has already made her first statement. Banerjee’s family members were nowhere to be found, she announced. If scavenger comes to mind, you are not alone.