How Indian Actors are Bad Influence on Youth

Have you seen the “Dabidi dibidi” song from the recently released movie Daaku Maharaj? Didn’t you find it cringeworthy? For me it was.

Watching just a clip of song was a bad social experience for me because of the vulgar dance steps. Such vulgar steps are created for controversy.

How can a 64 year old actor perform such steps on a woman? Doesn’t he have the leverage to say “No” to such steps? He can, but it’s all about creating controversy and cheap thrills. And it means more profit.

Similarly, have you seen “Bhasad Macha” song from the movie Deva? The way Shahid’s character is shown smoking and playing with a cigarette, is again, cringe-worthy.

It seems like every actor today wants to play an alpha male character because a shitty movie like “Animal” has almost touched ₹1000 crores in worldwide earnings.

These actors whether they are from Bollywood, Mollywood, Tollywood, or Kollywood, only care about personal gains and success of their movies.The success of a movie has more weight than the integrity and morals of an actor.

Do you really think these actors care about how they are impacting youth? No, they don’t. That’s why they are ready to play a character who can be as violent as he can. That’s why they are ready to play a character who is a misogynist. That’s why they are ready to play a character who makes substance abuse look normal.

Such irresponsible actors, through their movie characters, teach youth directly or indirectly that it is okay you drink excessively like Vijay’s character does in the “Master” movie. A master or Vaathi can come to a school or college in inebriated condition. Students love and give respect to him.

It is okay to stare at the legs of a girl like Allu Arjun’s charatcer does in the “Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo” movie. Girl will smile at you and eventually start loving you.

It is okay to slap a girl, as actor Vijay Deverakonda’s character does in the “Arjun Reddy” movie.

It is okay to assault your wife like Ranbir Kapoor’s character does in the “Animal” movie. Through this movie, his character is influencing youth to become unapologetic misogynists and do as much violence as they can. You will not get killed. Nothing will touch you. There is no law or police. After doing so much violence and bad things, you can still live long happily.

As we have seen from the start of cinema, youth have been copying the actors and what an actor does in a movie. So won’t they copy their favorite actor’s on-screen bad behavior, attitude, and style?

Most Indian youth dream of living a life like famous Indian actors. So, when the youth see their favorite actors flaunting their gorgeous girlfriends, luxurious cars, clothes, travels, or homes, they start worshipping them as gods. They become these actors’ passionate fans.

But countless Indian youth are unaware that these actors show them everything polished about their lives.

They post fake and curated photos of their lives. They are not going to share with you their actual emotions most of the time. They hide the unpleasant moments of their lives and the young fans think they tell them everything. Each fan lives in the illusion that he or she talks to them. They care about their fans.

Really?

Actors are kind of marketers, and marketers lie because they love selling products. In the filmdom, actors are the product themselves. They sell themselves. That’s why they have a team of trainers, nutritionists, and marketing people who keep working on polishing their images and making them look like what you see.

Some people will counter it stating that movie actors do not influence youths. I agree partially. Any youth who is well educated and aware of their thoughts and actions can have no influence of actors’ behaviors on them. But, any youth other than these will be influenced.

I remember a short video in which a young kid around 11-12 years old was chewing gutkha. A person asked him why he was chewing it, doesn’t he know that it is injurious to health? He can die. The boy answered, “Shahrukh Khan mar gaya kya? (Did Shahrukh khan die?”.

So, yes, if actors like Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, or Tiger Shroff endorse advertisements related to tobacco brands, unaware or ill-educated youth will try to emulate what their favorite actors are doing in an advertisement.

Similarly, Indian actors are promoting skin-lightening creams, junk food, and alcoholic brands. They don’t use these products themselves or consume what they show.

And I feel it disgusting that to earn some extra money they promote gambling apps. It is an area of concern because many celebrities and actors are promoting these apps and telling their fans how easy it is to earn money there.

Such behaviors show that many actors don’t have a sense of morality. They don’t care about youth, they only care about some extra money. It’s always a chase for some “extra money”.

Such actors are never satisfied, even if they have 10s or 100s of crores with them. They always want more, irrespective of any means. They are always ready to become a bad influence on youth.

What’s most disappointing is how some actors handle controversies. Whether it’s a run-in with the law, irresponsible statements, or questionable behavior, the lack of accountability sets a poor example.

They forget that youth look up to them. And when they see them getting away with problematic behavior, it normalizes the idea that fame can excuse anything. They become more and more fascinated with fame.

I’m not bashing all but most. Because only a few are there who are doing good work—taking up meaningful roles. There are some who are supporting social causes and speaking out about important issues.

So, what can youth do? First, let’s be more critical of the media you consume. Instead of blindly idolizing actors, let’s ask yourself:

“What values are they promoting?”

“Do I really need to consume or buy what they show in the advertisements?”

“Do I really need to waste so much time engaging on each post, word, or movie update?”

Similarly, parents and teachers can also play a big role in guiding young minds to understand the difference between reel and real life.

And finally, it’s important for us, as a society, to demand better stories. We should stop watching mindless violent, vulgar, or cringe-worthy movies. We should stop admiring actors who are not a part of responsible endorsements. We should only admire those actors who are responsible and accountable.

At the end of the day, actors are just people. So, stop giving them so much of your energy and time. Appreciate their good work but stop worshipping them.

Actors are not perfect and they shouldn’t be our only role models. Because true inspiration can come from any place — scientists, activists, teachers, even their own families.

We must remember that while it’s fun to watch movies, life isn’t a movie. And that’s perfectly okay.