What happened to Ranveer Allahbadia aka Beer Biceps? He was the toast of the season, followed by millions, adored and celebrated, feted by the high and mighty, and awarded by the Prime Minister himself! So much so that stars and their PR companies often chose to give one interview to Beer Biceps rather than several to all media houses put together.
Word has it that after his interviews with leading figures such as Dr Jaishankar and Dr Raghuram Rajan, and his informal interaction with PM Modi on stage, there were few who had the nerve to refuse him an interview. With celebrities vying to be friends with him, and connects in the highest echelons, the 31-year-old podcaster ruled, and was celebrated as a beacon of success. Thousands aspired to be like him.
And then, he made one scandalous remark on a comedy show, and everything was over. His brutal fall from grace has taken him overnight from iconic status to a cautionary tale. What happened? Was it just the sheer unacceptability of the words he uttered, putting forbidden, appalling images regarding parental intimacy into the minds of all? Or, was it something more than that?
It is not as if what he said has never been said earlier. After all Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of Oedipus complex in 1910 and Carl Jung came up with the Electra Complex in 1913.
Ranveer crossed a forbidden line no doubt, one that — particularly in these morally fraught times — you must never cross. And certainly not if you are a darling of the public, with all eyes focused on you. He misread the privileges of his celebrity status. Sometimes success can make you lose perspective and go to your head, and in one excruciating moment, your misplaced ego can shatter all that you have painfully built. Enveloped in the cocoon of fame, you may think that the public will forgive you anything. The truth is that you will be forgiven nothing. Nothing at all.
But there is a deeper truth responsible for his present downfall – one that goes beyond his own misguided words. There is a very thin line between public love and hate. If a celebrity crosses a line, the reprisal is swift and brutal. No apologies cut ice, no explanations are entertained. The same media and followers that celebrated you a few minutes ago, tear you to shreds. Reverence crumbles, and you become a whisper of disgrace. Take the case of the much-loved actor Kevin Spacey or the golf legend Tiger Woods. Allegations of misconduct and personal failings respectively shattered them overnight, almost erasing their days of glory.
Public scorn is ruthless, and there is no forgiveness here. It seems like society is waiting for the moment a celebrity falters, almost relishing and celebrating the fall as much as they did the rise. The transformation is unnaturally swift, and the subject is vilified and shredded to bits in a matter of moments. Was the admiration merely a mask then? A mask for deep-seated envy and resentment? All admiration is after all tinged with envy.
When Allahbadia shot to fame, most forgave or overlooked the fact that he had hosted some pretty sleazy and objectionable content earlier too. As his friends and colleagues are presently arguing on TV, “But he was always like this…” However, that was before he rose to celebrity, and it seems that public approbation overlooks earlier misdeeds, but none after.
Once deified as a celebrity, the public demands that one who has it all, must be perfect. Followers look up to an icon, accord a divinity to him or her, and expect them always to be correct and morally unambiguous. When such an illusion shatters — as all illusions are bound to – fans tend to see this as a personal betrayal. Hence the brutal reprisal. However, the truth is that nobody can be perfect — so is then the fall embedded into the DNA of success?
Allahbadia allowed himself to be hoodwinked, taking his success and the love of his followers for granted. Now perhaps, in the eye of the storm, he is realizing that success is a very fickle mistress; you can never take her for granted. One minute you are on top of the world when nothing seems impossible, and the next, the bottom falls out, leaving you freefalling with no hope of any help.
As Bill Gates says, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose. The public in fact waits eagerly for a star to misstep. Nothing satisfies more than to see a big icon stumble and fall. And the punishment is always swift and irreversible.”
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
END OF ARTICLE
