After breakups, rants and death threats, Twitter wars have caught the fancy of celebs. Karan Bhardwaj reads between the lines
There was a time when a saucy war between two actresses would be called a cat fight. But now, cat fights are passe and what’s emerged from the new-age social media kingdom is a Twitter war. This is latest indulgence for some celebrities who think it’s cool to express their displeasure and post narcissistic comments about love, life and anything under the sun blatantly on Twitter. The 140 characters on the micro-blogging site have given enough scope to our celebs to throw pot shots at each other, who wouldn’t otherwise see eye to eye at public functions.
Take this. Just when we were flipping through satirical discussion between Twinkle Khanna and author-turned-celebrity judge on Nach Baliye Chetan Bhagat, another furious battle, between Sonu Nigam and Zee Network, caught the fancy of Twitteratis. The tussle was regarding a footage showing AAP leader Kumar Vishwas’ apathy towards the farmer who committed suicide recently during their rally in the Capital. A number of enraged tweets were exchanged between the group and the vocalist, and soon enough #IStandWithSonuNigam started trending on Twitter. Now that an artiste can be banned by a media group or not is already being discussed, the war has brought out the fact that Twitter has emerged as the most preferred platform for celebrity foes to settle their scores.
In fact, such public spats have given a new lease of life to many dying careers and helped spent off personalities remain relevant in public eye. For example, Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar may gain nothing out of the war of words with Kamaal R Khan, but the latter, the self-proclaimed actor and critic, only manages to stay relevant through Twitter. In the past, he has locked horns with Shah Rukh Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu, Mahesh Bhatt and Kapil Sharma, and made headlines. Former Bigg Boss participant Pooja Misrra, too, accused Sonakshi Sinha and her father Shatrughan Sinha on Twitter for casting a spell of black magic on her.
What on earth would have encouraged celebrated author Chetan Bhagat to exchange fun banters with Twinkle KhannaIJ We may not judge but was it the desire to trend or rule the social mediaIJ Or was it a pre-planned exercise between the two to draw attentionIJ looking abroad, Western icons, too, have engaged in an online uproar. Remember Amanda Bynes’ unwarranted attack on pop star Rihanna and Chrissy Teigen, when she called both stars uglyIJ In another famous feud of all time, Perez Hilton called Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas a “f***cking f*ggot.”
While Twitter wars have definitely become a publicity tool for some, it has also tested the integrity of stars who refrain from engaging in ugly disagreements. Even after a series of tweets, KRK still awaits acknowledgment or response from Karan Johar. Whatever be the case, such episodes will only encourage social media users to further share views without any hesitation. For we follow celebs religiously.