Darshan gets an outpouring of love from industry friends and fans after rumour of media ban

A couple of days ago, Challenging Star Darshan tweeted a note of gratitude to his fans for always staying by his side through thick and thin. The tweet came amid rumours that the Kannada superstar has been banned by the local media and that no publicity would be done for his upcoming films unless and until he issues an apology. Some months ago, an audio file, purportedly of the actor abusing the media with the choicest expletives, had surfaced and the media ban is apparently in response to this. Since his tweet, Darshan’s had an outpouring of love from fans and friends in the industry, although it is still not clear what prompted the message in the first place. In fact, it does seem a bit strange because so far, every morsel of information about his upcoming film Kranti and even #D56 has been given great publicity by all media.

Over the past few years, Darshan has had a tumultuous relationship with the media. The star has always been clear about giving interviews only when he has something to talk about, like, for instance, when he has an upcoming release. He remains elusive at most other times. But given that his personal life has been the subject of intense public scrutiny in the years since his arrest and brief incarceration for domestic abuse, his every move and word is of great interest to the media. Whether it is the alleged brawls he gets into after a tipple or two, the mysterious parties at his farmhouse in Mysuru that are attended by a lot of his film friends, fallouts with filmmakers or property disputes, among others – every time Darshan’s name is involved, there is media coverage, which is often not favourable to the actor, more so because of his sometimes-brash responses to queries or refusals to address any.

The problem, say industry insiders, is that for the longest time, the Kannada local media has been used to having direct access to everyone in Sandalwood. Even those stars who change their mobile numbers frequently used to be easily accessible. But that’s been changing in recent times with the likes of Darshan and now, Yash. Even Sudeep’s direct number isn’t with every film journalist here. With these stars, you have to be familiar with their coterie – the people who are always with them. It could be a driver, body guard, friend or film producer. But how do you blame these stars for not wanting to share their personal contact information with everyone when there are just so many media houses, who, for the sake of an ‘exclusive’ byte, make actors repeat the same thing over and over again, even if a subject has been addressed at a common forum, like a press meet, for instance?

An industry insider, on condition of anonymity, says that the issue is not only about stars being elusive. Citing the example of the Rajkumar family, where everyone accords the greatest respect to media, especially the late Puneeth Rajkumar, the insiders say that instead of choosing to speak up and be seen only during film releases, stars need to be answerable when other issues pertaining to them – both good and bad – come up. “Whether to respond or not is left to them, but not giving the media that opportunity and expecting to always be written about in glowing colours is not how it should be. Stars should be open to criticism,” he says.