The Cobrapost expose on some Bollywood celebrities has exploded on the scene; it as shocked us all; but also it isn’t as much of a shock. The nonprofit journalism company has been responsible for a series of sting operations; the latest of which is Operation Karaoke. The Cobrapost people went undercover and approached actors and singers to make favourable political posts in return for money.
The company was founded in 2003 by Tehelka co-founder Aniruddha Bahal. Its sting Operation Duryodhana (2005) famously exposed the cash for questions sting and led to 11 MPs being expelled from parliament; the largest in Indian history. Operation Red Spider (2013) delved into money laundering, Stalkers or the Snoopgate controversy investigated illegal government surveillance, etc. In 2018, Operation 136 revealed an expose that revealed how Indian media house were happy to promote a divisive agenda and one political ideology while attacking the opposition in return for money.
I suppose this is the sting where the stung sang like the proverbial canary… Undercover representatives of Cobrapost approached three dozen Bollywood celebrities. The list included playback singers, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Kailash Kher, Mika Singh and Baba Sehgal; actors Jackie Shroff, Shakti Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Sonu Sood, Amisha Patel, Mahima Chaudhry, Shreyas Talpade, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Pankaj Dheer and his son Nikitin Dheer, Tisca Chopra, Deepshikha Nagpal, Akhilendra Mishra, Rohit Roy, Rahul Bhat, Salim Zaidi, Rakhi Sawant, Aman Verma, Hiten Tejwani and spouse Gauri Pradhan, Evelyn Sharma, Minissha Lamba, Koena Mitra, Poonam Pandey, Sunny Leonne.
They asked whether these celebs would be willing to post social media messages in favour of a political party in return for money. Apart from the actors, the list goes on: comedians Raju Srivastava, Sunil Pal, Rajpal Yadav, Upasana Singh, Krushna Abhishek and Vijay Ishwarlal Pawar; choreographer Ganesh Acharya and dancer Sambhavana Seth.
In this video, Mahima Chaudhry speaks about her willingness to brainwash people, and participate in the polarisation of people along political lines. In the video, she is also seen negotiating terms because BJP can afford anything; up to a crore a month. Later she also said that she would switch sides and tweet in favour of the Congress if she wasn’t paid properly.
Singer Abhijeet is well known for his aggressive stance on social media; often making incendiary, threatening, lewd and abusive posts. Here he is ready to make videos what will make the ‘blood boil’.
Popular actor Surendra Pal appeared to have a ‘fixed price’ and wanted it all in cash. He is pro the ruling party anyway he said, but no cashless transactions for him it would seem.
Here actor Shreyas Talpade is seen agreeing to endorse AAP as well.
Vivek Oberoi, who is to play the Prime Minister in an upcoming biopic, had a whole plan in place for how and when he would tweet.
If people are willing to take political sides and endorse parties and individuals publicly for money, how many of their past statements can we trust?
Actors Vidya Balan, TV actor fame Saumya Tandon, Raza Murad and Arshad Warsi were the few who refused to tweet for money; dismissing the proposition as soon as it was made.
A lot of people expressed their disgust and disillusionment with well-off celebrities offering to sell their ethics. However, many others thought there wasn’t much wrong with this and drew parallels with how social influencers work.
The moral outrage apart, this tweet raises the question: this is about selling a product; in this case, political propaganda. It also asks the rather relevant question: who takes them seriously?
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
