Every time I think the film industry has hit an all-time low in insensitivity and apathy it surprises me by falling even lower. Even by the harshly uncaring standards of our film industry the announcement by a filmmaker that his next film featuring Rahul Roy will be titled Stroke …yes…Stroke and will cast Rahul as a man who has suffered a paralytic stroke, attained a new level of boorishness in the business peddling plots.
The announcement left me speechless. For a second, I thought the director, a certain Mr Nitin Kumar Gupta was trying to make light of Rahul’s illness. That would have amounted to a terribly distasteful joke. But no, Mr Gupta was not joking when he declared his intentions to make a film called Stroke. This is a serious exploitation. A stroke of genius is all one can say to this. Brutal insensitivity is a way of life in our film industry.
Not too long ago when Sushant Singh Rajput passed away his “friends” crawled out of the woodwork with juicy inside details of what they claimed was a murder. While every finger pointed and Mumbai Police says it was an alleged suicide these “friends” used up ample air time on news channels to propound their theories. Sushant’s death gave us innumerable self-appointed Sherlock Holmes and Jagga Jasooses on social media and of course we must not forget the overnight bio-pics on Sushant, one of them with a poster that showed a red-eyed khooni moving murderously towards the victim.
To those out there who think every dead or unwell celebrity is a target for exploitation, I say only one thing. Please stop! When you abandon kindness for some quick publicity you only expose your lack of compassion. Rahul Roy’s paralytic stroke can’t be the plot of a film. It is way too raw a wound to be pierced and probed. Have mercy. Go make a film on Kangana Ranaut’s fight with Diljit Dosanjh.
Image source: Instagram/officialrahulroy