Our life, Our rules!

Last week Deepika Padukone was exceptionally effective when she spoke of her depression on NDTV. She was emotional and honest while talking about the difficult phase in her life. It was amazing to see a big star so vocal about her vulnerabilities. The new generation of stars is definitely different. Varun Dhawan takes a calculated risk doing a dark film like Badlapur so early in his career. So does Alia Bhatt when she takes on a film like Highway.

Anushka Sharma not only essays an emotionally violent role in NH10 but also produces the film. These are risk takers when it comes to their profession. They know what they want. They know where they have to reach and are pretty honest about their goals. But ask any of them (like I have, on my chat show) about their ongoing relationships and they draw the line. Very firmly they decline talking about their boy/girlfriends. So then are they a throwback from the nineties in that regard? The brigade that coyly lied its way through questions on private lives? No. There is a difference.

Unlike in the earlier decades when a relationship being written about caused tremors in star lives, these kids don't care. They watch movies together at multiplexes, attend parties hand in hand, post pictures with each other on Instagram and care a hoot about all the speculation in the media. They don't acknowledge it or deny it. Diametrically opposite were the nineties. Not talking too much on the sets, not allowing still photographers to click pictures together, never being seen at restaurants, timing their entries and exits to events… That was the order of the day even as all of us knew that these were a sure as fire signs of a couple dating.

The changing times may have something to do with this refreshing transformation. One, there is no shock value today to a story about two single stars dating. Two, speculative stories unaccompanied by quotes have lost their teeth. And three, the media is largely dependent on PR firms and managers for access to film stars, which clearly helps them, control the information being put out. Also, all of the young actors are exposed to media even before their first release via promotions and marketing. So by the time their debut film has released, they have done hundreds of interviews, faced multitude of questions from the sublime to the ridiculous and are experts on how to deal with the media. That's why Alia, Sidharth, Parineeti, Arjun, Sonam, Deepika and Ranveer managed to tap dance around my questions on their relationships with ease and without lying. They were not defensive and yet not one of them gave any details. And just when the cynic in you starts to think that this new attitude may lead to film stars being projected as mannequins whose vulnerable, human moments may be lost to the public forever, comes Deepika's soul baring interview reassuring you that all is not lost!