Shahrukh Khan needs no introduction, he is the most popular Hindi film industry star in the world, maybe more popular than Amitabh Bachchan, so, when his son, Aryan Khan got arrested for allegedly being a part of a drug racket it was a headline in most Indian news media houses. So far it is understandable, the twenty-three-year-old son of a movie icon getting arrested for drug-related charges is a worthy headline to catch the attention of your viewers. However, what happened after that totally exposed the pathetic state of affairs of Indian news media. Most news channels started running 24x7 updates about Aryan Khan, what he does, what he eats, about the role of parenting in his arrest, and whatnot. Everything related to him was covered as if his arrest and bail is the biggest crisis India is facing right now. To make things more sensational there were rhyming headlines, poetic tags, super excited anchors, every time exclusive photos or interviews, whatever one can imagine from top to bottom was used by media houses to cover this hot story.
Before this incident the only identity of Aryan Khan was Shahrukh and Gauri Khan's elder son, that's all. Thanks to the Indian media outlets now the name Aryan Khan needs no introduction, I am sure whoever watches Indian news channels knows about him. I am sure this is not the way Aryan or his family expected him to get popular but he is now popular and currently may be more popular than his dad in India. It was a simple case of a rave party where young kids consume illegal drugs, the law should have taken its own course, and formalities like arrests and bail should have followed the procedure they normally follow in such cases, but it did not happen. It seems when the media started covering this case minute by minute the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India also got carried away. As a result, the issue became much bigger than it was and now the NCB itself is facing some credibility issues related to this case. I am sure Aryan must be wondering why such a big deal was made out of the fact that some of his friends wanted to smoke weed. No doubt, Aryan comes from a very privileged background, after all, how many people can afford to have the former attorney general of India represent them for a bail petition. However, as people should not get any special treatment because they come from a privileged background they should not be treated worse because they are privileged.
Another point to note is the way the Indian movie industry chooses to remain silent on the most sensitive issues. Even its biggest stars keep mum or issue some meaningless generic statements on some of the biggest atrocities committed in the country. They genuinely fear that their commercial interests will be hurt and their movies or families will be targeted, but this silence is noticeable to the extent that the industry's biggest stars who carry a macho image on the screen appear spineless in their real lives. However, the same stars expect public support when something happens to them, and they do receive a lot of support (as well as criticism, as hate and love are different sides of the same coin for any celebrity's life). Similarly, in this case, also there was a lot of support and hatred, the issue even took a political twist keeping with the current pattern where everything ends up becoming political and communal starting from a cricket match to the arrest of a superstar's son. Also, politics and communalism are so deeply ingrained in India that most people don't react based on what happened but they first check who are the people involved and then react accordingly. If it's from their own religion or political party then they find each and every possible reason to downplay or even justify murder or rape, and if it's someone from a different religion or opposite political party they can make a big deal about smoking a pot. The role of Indian media is very important in all this, they not only initiate this divide but actively cultivate and make sure that it doesn't get bridged by very aggressive and biased reporting. Any sensible person will cringe multiple times while watching most Indian news channels, they don't even try to hide their love for the ruling party and hatred towards the opposition, they don't even try to pretend to be objective, they shamelessly take sides and act as propaganda machines. I stopped watching them long back, but my parents watch it regularly and I always used to wonder what's the source of their so many conspiracy theories. During my recent India visit, I decided to watch these news channels with them and I realized from where they are getting all this misleading and fabricated information. The problem is there are many like my parents who believe these news channels, after all, why will the news channels lie, it's news, how can it not be true? Many Indians are fed with such lies continuously and I don't know how they will come out of it or will they ever come out of this vicious cycle. Aryan Khan will get bail for sure, it's just a matter of time, his case will also reach some conclusion but the thing Indians should worry about is what their news media is doing with them. The Indian news media is feeding something more dangerous than narcotics to their viewers, and the worst part is the viewers don't even know that they are being drugged.
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