Hindi Features

When Senior Stars Need Lessons In Twitter Etiquette

By Sanjana Chakraborty

My grandmother, well into her 80s, is fascinated by WhatsApp and Google. Having never been introduced to the Internet until her late 70s, she quickly graduated from reading news from the newspapers to straight-up news apps. Her guide and friend in her loneliness happens to be WhatsApp, where she chats at length with all her grandchildren and uses emojis at bulk. To her, it’s a constant source of amusement to watch how communication has transformed into sending ‘Good Morning’ pictures and videos.

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While the younger generation, particularly the millennials, uses social media to present the happenings in their lives, the older generation uses it as their outlet for jokes and the funnies. It’s no different with celebrities.

Amitabh Bachchan’s Twitter account is particularly intriguing. The 74-year-old star, through his interviews and films, gives off a serious, no-nonsense vibe.

Until you chance upon his Twitter handle, that is.

With nearly 30 million followers and having shared over 59K tweets, Amitabh is one of the few celebrities who uses his social media account for making merry. And for sharing pictures, even if they aren’t related to what he tweets.

Right from tweeting motivational quotes with his photos, to praising a film or sharing jokes (with his photo, again), Amitabh is the popular grand dad we wish we had. Or not.

For, he’s the grandpa who will drag you out for not responding to his texts.
And, he’s also the grandpa who knows the kind of memes that will make funky collages, cos’ why not?

Here’s when he asked Ranveer Singh why he didn’t respond to his birthday message:

When he asked Ranveer Singh why he didn’t respond to his birthday message

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He hauled up Sonam Kapoor, too, when she didn’t respond to his birthday message to her:

When Sonam Kapoor, too, didn’t respond to his birthday message to her

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This was when he shared a cute photo of Abhishek Bachchan and himself doing the garba.

When he was really, really impressed with Leonardo Di Caprio winning the Oscar.


Newton impressed him, too and he tweeted a photo of himself sitting on a bench – perhaps pondering over the film’s message.

When the rains beat down on Mumbai, he got his moment to crack a fairly badly-timed joke.


Woe betide you if you question him, though.

*****

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Rishi Kapoor’s Twitter account, perhaps, is the one that needs censoring. Who’d have thunk that the dreamy boy from the ’70s would be the master of all jokes crass on Twitter? And if that isn’t the case, his tweets after a few drinks become the talk of the town. With a timeline filled with sexist jokes and abuses, he’s the uncle you’d steer clear of.

Here’s Rishi Kapoor in a jovial mood:


When he is not amused at being corrected:

 

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His tweets during the women’s cricket World Cup Finals.

His tweets during the women’s cricket world cup finals

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He’s also amazed by math tricks.

And is no ‘saint’ when it comes to responding to trolls.

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Someone who remains unfazed by trolls, comments, or even corrections despite putting out incorrect information has to be Paresh Rawal. One would expect the funny man on screen to be equally funny on Twitter, where he has a platform to show off his coolest Baburao (from Hera Pheri) one-liners.

Sadly though, that isn’t the case. Currently a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, Rawal’s Twitter timeline screams patriotism, branding Pakistan as terrorists, and of course, trolling women.
He appears to be anti-media too.

When he’s done taking the media down, he wishes his colleagues well.

 

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Another veteran actor, Anupam Kher, is rather less vocal when compared to his counterparts. From posting updates about his films to everyday motivational quotes, he appears benign. But there are times when he, too, comes up with something zany for your Twitter timeline.

This was when he decided to spar with senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai over journalists quitting on moral grounds.


Or when he took it upon himself to define ‘nationalism’.

Also, what’s with veteran actors sharing their own (unrelated) photos with motivational messages?

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It’s not just the Bollywood actors who have the social media bug, though. Take Yoko Ono for instance. Married to late John Lennon, Yoko was always an enigmatic person – someone very difficult to read. Her Twitter timeline, too, is difficult to comprehend. But far from being unpleasant, a lot of her tweets talk about a different planet, a different realm – a stark contrast to the grandpas of Bollywood.

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As for some genuinely fun older people on Twitter, there’s Cher who always comes up with savage responses to trolls. From ridiculing Trump to posting hilarious memes all in Caps, and punctuated with emojis, Cher is undoubtedly the most entertaining of them all.

 

*****

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Sanjana Chakraborty is a Alum at Silverscreen India, and can be reached on Twitter at sanjana_c28 or by email at former@silverscreen.in