Celebs and plagiarism: Malaika Arora joins the copy-paste opinion club

With the advent of social media, celebrities (real, retired or wannabe) have got a platform to express their views on anything under the sun, without being at the mercy of mainstream media sources. Bollywood actress Malaika Arora did just that on January 6 when she uploaded a post on her Instagram account reacting to the recent incidents of mass molestation in Bengaluru.

 

So, I went out with my girlfriends to party on the crowded streets of a Metropolitan city, they came out in large numbers and molested us...... But my safety is my responsibility so... The next time I went to a discotheque, it was enclosed and had bouncers, they came into the place and beat us up and ripped our clothes off.......But my safety is my responsibility so.... I went to a movie with a Male friend for company, they pushed me into a bus and shoved an iron rod inside my privates.......But my safety is my responsibility, so...... I went to my college, fully clad in a "decent" salwaar kameez, they caught me around a corner and squeezed my bum......But my safety is my responsibility, so...... I decided to stay at home in the comfort of my own house, they broke down the door, tied me up and videotaped the things they made me do with them.......But my safety is my responsibility, so...... I went back to live with my family feeling safe and secure with them, they were my uncles but they didn't think of me as their niece when they made me take off my clothes and have their way with me.......But my safety is my responsibility, so....... These days I sit in the bathroom, locked tight, not coming out at all. They stand on the terrace opposite to it peeking in through the bathroom window, but I don't take a bath.......because my safety is my responsibility....... Now, they have me exactly where they have always wanted me, my spirit broken, my ability to fight back gone, my will to do something destroyed.....at their mercy.....still stuck in the bathroom.....dreading the time when the knocking starts on the door as they come to get me here too. I am that Indian Woman who can excel at sports, win medals for the Country, join the Army, become a CEO, go to the outer space and be the talk of the world.....only if I can come out of this bathroom......But my safety is my responsibility, so.... Disclaimer: Girls wearing short clothes and drinking and partying are copying the Western culture.Boys who molest them r copying the Indian culture???

A photo posted by Malaika Arora Khan (@malaikaarorakhanofficial) on Jan 5, 2017 at 1:22am PST

 

 

 

Arora’s post, which had a bare black image, won critical acclaim with several media organisations reporting on it. However, a few hours after the post went viral, social media users realised that the exact content was uploaded on Facebook by one Darshan Mondkar on January 3. To be fair to the actress, she may never have intended to plagiarise someone else’s comments and had only shared it. But as no credit was given to the original creator, Arora is facing lot of criticism.

 

This brings us to the issue of why celebrities take to expressing an opinion, even if they have little to say. Arora’s post followed similar statements on the Bengaluru molestations by the likes of Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Kumar. Social media has provided a new medium for constant publicity for celebrities outside of entertainment and advertisements. If Abhijeet Bhattacharya is now known more for his acerbic Twitter posts than his 1990s’ melodies, Ram Gopal Verma gets the oxygen of fame from Twitter that his movies are apparently failing to give.

 

However, more than the problem of plagiarism is the mainstream media’s obsession with celebrity “opinions” on social media. The opinions of actors on the Bengaluru incidents received prominent coverage on electronic media, but how relevant are these views on the ground? In addition, a symbiotic relationship has developed between celebrities and media, with both feeding off each other for publicity. This often results in background checks taking a backseat as in the case of Malaika Arora.

 

The plagiarism may not always be for personal fame. In December 2015, multiple Bollywood stars including Sonakshi Sinha, John Abraham and Parineeti Chopra posted identical messages on Twitter congratulating Reliance on the launch of its Jio initiative, raising suspicion that it was an unofficial marketing campaign.

 

A notable exception to recent unnoticed plagiarism was the embarrassment caused to incoming U.S. First Lady Melania Trump during the 2016 Republic National Convention, when it was revealed that large chunks of her speech were lifted from current First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech during her husband’s campaign in 2008. However, that incident appeared to have been orchestrated by Donald Trump’s opponents to embarrass him.