From Dev to Subhashree: When Bengali celebs got trolled for hilarious reasons

We all are familiar with the egg profile picture in Twitter handles, or even the random flower or god DP Facebook accounts. It’s not that we enjoy our anda bhurjee or colourful flowers so much that anything close to them stays in our hearts for long. It’s because many of these anonymous handles are actually hurling the most shocking abuses at others. Now just imagine that you are a celebrity the number of these people, trolls as popularly known will increase manifold. Not only Bollywood celebs, but Bengali actors also face the harsh music of social media as well. Here we take a look at some of these instances when Bengali celebs were the victim of cyber-bullying.

Tollywood superstar Dev’s girlfriend Rukmini Maitra whose film career is just three films old had to deal with some brutal trolling recently after she posted a pristine white image on social media. Trolls were quick to draw mean analogies between the blank picture and her relatively new career with so-called ‘blank future’ in Tolly world. This is not the first time the actress has been a victim of internet trolling. Back in December there was a sudden outburst to a post which spread the rumour of a remake of Hollywood milestone “Titanic” in Bengali by Raj Chakraborty featuring Dev and Rukmini as Jack and Rose. The actors were brutally mocked and trolled for days following which Rukmini made it clear they are not part of any ‘Titanic’ remake.

Mimi faced the wrath of the internet trolls during Ganesh Chaturthi this year. It all started when Mimi posted a picture in which she was seen dressed in a tee and shorts in front of a huge Ganesh murti. She perhaps never imagined her timeline will turn into a battleground for this picture. Haters were quick to heckle her claiming Mimi has hurt religious sentiments. Many said her dress was ‘inappropriate’. The ‘Villain’ actress is quite popular for posting selfies and pictures that often lead to wild uproar online. Mimi has always been a victim of online trolling for her bold pictures and it looked like she caught the eyes of social media once again.

It’s unfortunate to see the internet is being used for more bad than good, and the keyboard warriors of social media prove their miserable existence to heckle anyone who steps out of set notions celebrating humanity over religion. That’s what happened to Nusrat Jahan when she wished on Durga Puja in 2017. Nusrat wished her fans a happy Soshti through a Facebook video. She said it’s the time to enjoy life and that she will also celebrate the festival with her close one after she done with judging the puja pandals. However, her simple wish stormed the internet as Muslim fanatics shamed her for wishing people in a ‘Hindu’ festival while she’s a ‘Muslim’ woman.

Back in April Raj Chakraborty shared a picture of him with wife Subhashree Ganguly through his Facebook handle. The picture saw the lovebirds lounging while Subhashree reading an upside down book! This sent the trolls into a tizzy as they were quick to destroy the awesome mood of the cozy photo. What they clearly had no idea was the book has two covers and the side Subhashree was reading was an upside down one. But as usual the keyboard warriors don’t care about all these. Later, Raj interfered sharing a video and cleared all the doubts.

In yet shocking another instance of intolerance and online trolling, stand-up comedian and radio jockey turned actor Mir Afsar Ali was heavily criticised after he uploaded a picture of his family celebrating Christmas few years back. He was heckled for celebrating Christmas and was reminded he is a Muslim. Mir was quick to retaliate as he posted screenshots of some of these comments with a strongly-worded message. In the midst of this internet storm, Mir didn't even lose his cool or his famous sense of humour. Perhaps, that’s the best way to deal these crazy trolls!

Being a superstar of Bengali cinema, Dev has somehow scaled his very own ‘Troll er Pahar’. Over the years, he has developed a unique immune system to leave behind all the trolls and memes made upon him. The best way to deal it is simply ignore it! That’s what Dev has been doing for years. It’s hard to believe how a Bengali film icon who has stolen hearts of young generation can inspire such memes. The fact that khokababu stays in the news almost every day is what turns out him as the perfect target for all these spoofing. The interesting part is all these memes are not just popular among the actor’s critics and haters but also to his many fans.

Swastika Mukherjee recently shared her two elegant monochrome pictures through her Twitter handle and captioned it with a hard-hitting message about how it’s not important to look the best 24 hours. She wrote: “I am an actor, I need to look the part I choose to play. Looking beautiful & gorgeous & YOUNG 24/7 is neither mandatory nor a requirement, both on and off screen. So stop asking why I don't look like m in my 20s? Bcs I am not an alien & here on Earth even actors age & die.” Soon, a Twitter user tried to take a dig at the Bengali actress saying: “At 40 you are still beautiful....!” The straight forward actress gave a fitting reply to the troll and said: “Who told you my age? I definitely did not.” Swastika has always been the common link between a bunch of films confronting the general norms in both acceptability and decorum for the past few years.