Misguided youth of the 90s
By M.L. Kashyap

AT a time when the Indian industry is facing a severe resource crunch, the one sector which is posting phenomenal profits and expansion plans is that of the entertainment business. Two factors have further contributed to this surfeit in leisure and lifestyle trends — the opening up of the skies by way of satellite invasion and the winning of international beauty pageants by Indian models aspiring beauty queens. This has spawned an entire new culture and breed of wannabes for whom life is in the fast track. Model Jessica Lal and Manu Sharma are both byproducts of this culture.

For the instant, quickfix generation, everything has to happen before the blinking of an eyelid. Success, fame, fun, excitement and action — there has to be no dull moment. To maintain this constant state of high, they don’t think twice before indulging in substance abuse. Alcohol, drugs, rave parties are no longer confined to the upper strata or the party set. They party set itself has expanded to include the vast middle class youth who too want a slice of the action pie. They want to wear branded clothes, sport the latest multinational cosmetics, eat at the most ‘happening’ restaurants, flaunt the most prestigious status symbols and have the most good looking companions by their side. It is like a complete package deal.

The Jessica Lal murder may have created a nationwide controversy. The media blitz accompanying it fed the voyeuristic element as it threw up tidbits of a much-envied lifestyle of the rich and the famous. Discos, pubs and nightclubs in the Capital have hired extra bouncers to ward off prospective shooters and troublemakers. They have also stepped up security checks since no one wants a bad name. Publicity is good but bad publicity is bad news for any restaurant business. Boutiques, health clubs, hotels, exhibitions, launching of new labels and auctions today thrive on celebrity presence. Visibility then is of paramount importance. If you are seen at the right places, if your photograph is flashed in the lifestyle sections of newspapers and magazines, if your personal life is discussed in the gossip columns of society pages then you have arrived, you will get more work, your professional standing will go up and your market value will increase.

On the one hand you have people from the entertainment business like, say Jessica, who are no longer in the prime of their youth. With models making an entry while still in their teens, a 34-year-old model has to pull all possible strings to be able to maintain a certain income and lifestyle. On the other hand you have people like Manu and his friends who have the money and who would like to be part of the lives of these celebrities and these very happening places. More so if they live in cities which do not have access to such ‘happening’ joints. Also in the case of Manu, Chandigarh was too small a place; everyone knew him and anything he did would directly jeopardise his politician-businessman father’s reputation. Coming down to Delhi for some fun and action seemed most logical.

At 24 Manu stands vindicated today. His reputation, future career prospects, respect in the eyes of society and family background have all turned suspect. He has become the epitome of everything that the present day youth should not be. Even if his lawyers can soften his sentence and succeed in getting him out what future does he have? Is he so much a victim of his own lust/greed/sense of importance or is he a victim of his times which have created many Manus all over the country? The glamour world with all its trappings has become the dream vehicle of all those who want their fifteen minutes of fame. If some of them earn it by virtue of their merit, fine, otherwise they latch on to those who can be their passport to the world of their dreams. Models like Jessica were a link to that elusive world. By befriending them or by taking them out for a drive or by spending an evening, even if it meant shelling out tens of thousands of rupees, star struck youngsters like Manu would find their market stock amongst their own peer group increasing. They would regularly haunt such places hoping to strike a ‘good deal’. Without effective role models at the school, home and work place, boys like Manu set their own pace and live by their own fickle values which change with the changing season.

Who exactly is to be blamed for Jessica’s murder? Is it Manu alone or the entire system which creates these anomalies in the first place? If Manu pressed the trigger in an inebriated bout of anger, so used to was he to having his every whim fulfilled, is not his family to be blamed for creating a little vicious demon in him? Are not girls like Jessica to be blamed for corrupting the value system of young straight-out of college lads and lasses who, through rose tinted glasses, are given a peep into the colourful world of fashion, modelling and glamour? Manu may be sentenced and punished but where is the guarantee that many more Manus will not sprout all over the country?