Much has been said about stars facing hate and abuse on social networking sites – all perfectly justified. It is an unpleasant and shameful – if unavoidable – reality. Kudos to our celebs for having learnt to handle it like pros. Veterans at negotiating the treacherous alleys of the virtual world, they now know better than to give even a speck of attention to nameless, faceless flotsam. Alongside, they have also mastered the art of using social media entirely to their benefit.

Innocent, huh?

Take the very innocent case of Alia Bhatt and Shiddat. When the media had got wind of her being signed for this Dharma production, she chose to shut them up with a “Who told you that? I don't know about such movie.” Oh well, alright, perhaps they were barking up the wrong tree. Then just yesterday, she coolly goes and shares a video on Instagram, captioning it, “SECRETLOOKTEST, The legends at work.” Secret? Hah! The clipping features Karan Johar’s fave designer buddy Manish Malhotra with the make-up genius, Mickey Contractor in the middle of a discussion. How very clever of the li’l girl to charmingly imply she has landed Shiddat, even as official confirmation is still awaited.

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She had company in Varun, who had also denied any news of Shiddat – till he went and smartly posted a video on Instagram, which showed him at the Dharma office with the word Shiddat written on a white-board behind him! What’s more, he even posed with Abhishek Varman, who is said to be directing the film, so there!

Denial & Confirmation

Yes, we do have our li’l issues with stars blatantly blaming media for cooking up stories – until they themselves go and confirm their news on social media. We do wish the newlyweds Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli all the best, but what were they thinking issuing constant denials about their impending nuptials? And then once the good deed was done, they take to social media themselves to tweet a wedding pic along with a sappy caption which read: “Today we have promised each other to be bound in love forever. We are truly blessed to share the news with you. This beautiful day will be made more special with the love and support of our family of fans and well-wishers. Thank you for being such an important part of our journey.” Really, guys??

Threat Gone Wrong

Even the mighty Amitabh Bachchan is not immune. His recent threat on Twitter, accusing the micro-blogging site of reducing his followers and jokingly threatening to quit it soon, was seen to be in rather poor taste. Especially since he continues to be active on the site! We guess even living legends are allowed their jokes.
Mission Misfire

Sidharth Malhotra tried pulling a similar stunt recently, when he changed his Instagram and Twitter picture to black. He even changed his bio to ‘Off’, tweeting, “Sorry I am done!” Fans were gobsmacked wondering what could have led the very popular Sid to quit social media so suddenly. After all, there hadn’t been any controversies to prompt such drastic action. The mystery deepened, as Sid quit without replying to his fans’ questions and doubts. And then the truth emerged - it was simply a unique promotional strategy for his upcoming Aiyaary. A message by team Aiyaary was exposed to reveal that the mission was to make as much noise as possible, with the hashtag #Sid’sOffTheGrid. They were instructed to speculate reasons as to why he had gone, where he was, and whether something was wrong with him. ‘Let’s make Sid trend all day, guys!’ was the aim – sadly for them it was way off target.

Trending Tirade

Way off target was also Swara Bhaskar’s recent tirade against Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Her constant rant of feeling like a ‘vagina only’ as she struck out at the film’s depiction of jauhar, sure got her the eyeballs… something she was probably all too well aware of when she chose to hit out so vehemently on social media, in the first place. She does admit she was unprepared for the “mayhem” but gosh, she won’t be complaining about trending non-stop by virtue of her virtual tirade!

Oppose & Repent

Say tirade and the name Rishi Kapoor immediately springs to mind. The veteran actor has taken to tweeting like a fledgling to birdsong. Only, if you do engage with him, it must be on his terms. Agreement is great, and even silence is fine but dissent is simply not allowed. His virtual fisticuffs are now too many to innumerate. If he’s demeaning an RJ who dared to comment that a meme of his was not funny, he’s not above direct messaging a few well-chosen words of abuse to the followers (women included) he believes deserve it.

Keeping it Real

Maverick filmmaker Ramgopal Varma today keeps the memory of himself alive via his exploits on social media – from the occasional jibes at other filmmakers to teasers that veer towards porn, nothing is beyond limits for the director. Difference is, he isn’t pretending to be holier than thou about using (and abusing) social media to his own personal benefit. And that’s where the other worthies could take a leaf out of his book!