Nothing screams fame louder than being a ‘Quiet Celebrity’

Last month, my Instagram feed was just Jamnagar. As celebrities posted their outfits and their dance moves, and footage from the great Ambani pre-wedding racked up millions of views online, I decided to do my research (as any good pop culture writer should) and see what the woman of the hour herself, Radhika Merchant, was posting. I was in for a surprise (bigger than the one that Rihanna dancing to ‘teri baaton mein aisa uljha jiya’ gave me). Radhika Merchant has a private Instagram account, with an alpaca profile picture no less, a few hundred followers, and a ‘The Office’ reference as her bio.

The woman on everyone’s screen was just not posting anything publicly. She possibly never has. The unsaid subtext is pretty clear — she doesn’t need to.