Reading newspaper is an integral part of our lives for the very obvious motive that we should be aware of the things surrounding us. It was not until 20th May, 2017 that I found it important to read the newspaper. Saturday morning, a cup of hot tea and a crisp copy of The Telegraph, one of the leading English daily in Kolkata. The very front page carried a big picture of Aishwarya Rai Bacchan blowing a kiss at the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival 2017. It’s not the picture that cringed me but the caption in big block letters reading- “WHOOSH! HAS DEEPIKA BEEN BLOWN AWAY?”. They also went ahead with how Aishwarya overshadowed the debut appearance of Deepika at the same event.
There is a lot that I want to say as a reader of this daily and citizen of the country. As a citizen of a country that speaks of greatness, humbleness and humanity, it is very shocking that our media is trying to drive comparisons between the two women who have achieved their part of the success in different forms. What sort of journalism tries to humiliate an actress by printing a picture of another actress being more beautiful than her? We as a society is trying our level best to beat the superficial beauty standards that people have set through decades. Also our society is the one that is indifferent regarding the issue of mental illness. Being a country where 35% of the population is going through depression, we should try and curb the problem. Deepika padukone as an actress has overcame the hurdle of mental illness and takes up a huge part in trying to make people aware about the issue. It is very saddening that a leading daily went ahead and printed the worst kind of journalism on the very front page, humiliating both the actresses in front of the readers.
-Sneha Banerjee