Social media has brought celebrities in close contact with their millions of fans. The anonymity allows users to show their true selves. So while there is love and mush, and casual fun and witty quips, there is also a darker side fuelled by jealousy, intolerance and casual hate.

Social media trolling has reached scary proportions – from slut-shaming to character-bashing to outright verbal invective and abuse, it is all par for the course in today’s world.
How do stars cope with internet hatred? How do they retain their dignity and their sanity in this crazy virtual world?

“I don’t like the fact that people find it so easy to hate” – Anushka Sharma

Anushka Sharma has been trolled umpteen times for umpteen reasons and she has wisely chosen not to react to it. “I am not going to react to a bunch of cowards sitting in front of their computers screens who are insecure and have shit idea of themselves. They think so lowly of themselves that they feel ki kisi aur ko neeche girayenge toh unki aukaad badegi. Aise logon ke upar kya react karu. By now I’m mature enough to understand you shouldn’t take this too seriously. Trolls are just a bunch of people who are highly frustrated in their own lives. I don’t like the fact that people find it so easy to hate one another. The hatred that people are constantly fuming and find it easy to ridicule and break somebody’s spirit - it’s very sad. You can call me an idealist, or you can call me a dreamer, but that’s exactly how I feel.”

“It’s easier for me to block that person” - Rishi Kapoor

Rishi Kapoor believes in paying trolls back in their own coin. He maintains that the haters cannot change his way of thinking. “I will write whatever I want to.  I will do and say and write whatever my heart tells me to do. I have the freedom of expression. 'This is a democracy, and I can say what I want to and what I feel. As long as I am not offending someone personally, or I am not agitating against anything that's a delicate matter, I don't think that anyone should have a problem with what I say.” Wars of words don’t scare him.

“Who cares! Do you think I give a damn to these trolls or what they say? These so-called trolls feel very important if you [any celebrity] react or respond to their tweet. So, I don't let them have that moment of joy.” He is perfectly okay with disagreement “but the moment you abuse me, or you offend me, I would do nothing but simply block you. That means you can no longer follow me or see what I am doing.” The vociferous actor has so far blocked 5000 trolls. “If anyone dares to take a dig at my family members or write anything mean on my Twitter timeline, I will block him/her. I don't want this kind of bad influence on my Twitter timeline. I believe that one bad fish spoils the other lot as well, and since I don't want this to go on, it's easier for me to block that person, and then they don't get to talk to me.”

“If you’re making a joke about me, I’m relevant” - Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt has an interesting take on the attention, even if it is unsavoury. “I look at in two ways - I'm either relevant or irrelevant. If you're making a joke about me, I'm relevant. So why should I be upset? My father (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt) says, 'One day, the flowers will stop coming and you'll be upset.' I say that one day, the jokes will stop coming, and THEN I'll be upset.”

RECOMMENDED READ: COWARDLY TROLLS, SONAM DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU!

“Report them, block them” - Sonam Kapoor

After loads of experience, the stylista has come up with her own five-point agenda when it comes to dealing with trolls. “It’s simply five things – Do not give a shit about what nameless, faceless people say because they are obviously cowards. If they wanted to comment on you, they wouldn’t do it anonymously. Usually, they are fake profiles who are hired to write such stuff by whoever. I don’t know! Report them. Block them. You should also know that because you are relevant, they’re talking about you — good or bad. And finally, just be positive and happy knowing that there are people who love you for who you are.”

“For me, trolling is not news” - Priyanka Chopra 

Our gal in the West is a boss when dealing with online hate – she doesn’t waste even a second on it! “I don’t know why you guys give trolling so much importance but for me trolling is not news, it has never been. Trolling is just someone’s opinion and who cares about that?” Well-said, gal!

“It’s not the end of the world” - Varun Dhawan

This hot dude is enviably cool coping with the meanness in the virtual world. “We all get trolled all the time. Don’t take it too seriously, it’s not the end of the world. There are many pros and cons of social media. In a way, it is about reaching out. A lot of things can get manipulated, so don’t believe all of it,” is his sage advice.

“It’s better to be hated than to be forgotten” - Esha Gupta

Esha Gupta had received a ton of insults for a dare-bare shoot she had done. Yet she put up a brave front, as the trolls went to town slut-shaming her. “I've done shoots like this one when I was a model. I've gone topless and naked, too. No one ever asked me about that. And who are these people who have 'issues' with my pictures? It's my body and it's been shot aesthetically. There's a thin line, which if you cross, you look vulgar. No one can say my pictures are vulgar. I got more love than hate, but it's better to be hated than to be forgotten. And right now, I'm in my best shape. Although we knew where this could lead, we thought, 'If not now, then when?'” Now that takes guts!

“I had to train myself to let it go” – Sidharth Malhotra

Not everyone immediately grows a thick skin to deal with the invective out there – Sidharth Malhotra admits it took him time learning to deal with it. “Initially, trolls and rumours would affect me. I did not grow up in the industry and I am not used to the rumour mill. I had to train myself to let it go. It is an unproductive energy that should be ignored. It is a matter of training my own head to be aware but not let it affect me.”

“They think they can get away with it” - Abhishek Bachchan

Mention his daughter and he will strike back and cut you down but otherwise this bloke hardly ever reacts to the many insults that come his way. His rationale: “Ninety-nine percent of times, these trolls wouldn’t be able to repeat the same things they’re saying to me on Twitter if they were in front of me. They’d be scared of my reaction, but because Twitter is such a faceless medium, they think they can get away with it.” Hit the nail on the head, he has.

“You are already living in a jail” - Karan Johar

He has revealed his struggle with constant cruelty from the hate brigade. “I've tried to figure out what's behind the nonstop trolling. I've discussed it with friends, family, even my therapist. Why is it that every time I put up a pouting picture on Instagram, I'm just called chakka, gay, I'm told "Chup kar ch***ye? That's my favourite, by the way. My absolute favourite. Anything I ever say, these three golden words are thrown at me.” His final defence: he has learnt to pity the haters. “You don't need to be arrested for gay shaming...body shaming...slut shaming....any shaming....because you are already living in a jail…”