Tragedy Is A Money Spinner

Actor Sushant singh’s suicide owing to depression was really unfortunate! I was never a fan of him, never watched his movies except Chichore but his death shocked me . I never followed him on social media and watched any of his interviews. But his death made me check him out! I checked his social media handles, his interviews, the comments made by other celebrities after his death.

This whole episode was shocking but what shocked me more was slew of reactions. Some went the nepotism way and rest took to the mental health. Almost everyone became an expert on the mental health and giving opinions. It is still going on. Everyone was paying him tribute, remembering him, sharing their “last” WhatsApp conversation with him.

If you are on social media or reading online news, you may have noticed there is still a lot of news around Sushant’s death even after three weeks. If it was to keep his memory alive, then it was fine but sadly it is not. There are so many articles on the mental health these days. Its another thing they are not helping much in reaching the right audience, considering many suicidal death you get to read. That is what selling right now… tragedy!

As a new blogger, I have started understanding the nitty gritty of the online world and can shed some light on the barrage of posts on these topics. There is something called SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and I am no authority to explain this as I am myself a novice. But what I can tell you is, SEO tools create a list of topics which netizens are searching currently or trending in a given period of time. Bloggers, Instagram handles often use these results to create content and attract visitors which provides opportunities for marketing. This helps the sellers, marketers, product owners to reach out to bigger audience. Bloggers earn their money by advertising it on their blogs and products get sold. This is how everyone is making money!

Weight loss, fitness, health, food, self improvement and travel are all time favourite topics. But the tragedies are also big opportunities. Currently Sushant Singh, mental health and Depression are trending.

If you are on Instagram and follow the Bollywood Film handles like Pinkvilla, previously they were forever busy with Taimur Ali khan and now you hardly see him. Its all the way Sushant Singh now and they used to hardly cover him. Everybody is milking his death. A lot of media brazenly circulated photographs of his corpse and video of his father crying. Famous people will be covered but there needs to be a better way to report. His death coverage can hardly be termed as news coverage, it was more like trashy crime drama. All of us are lapping up these stories and helping websites, news channels earn money from a very personal tragedy.

Kangana Ranaut picked up the responsibility to fight for him, indirectly targeting her own adversaries. She has put up few videos which has resulted in an increase in her followers. She may be doing it out of goodwill, but don’t forget it increases her brand value also. A lot of struggling actors have suddenly come out in open with their battles with mental health and garnering sympathy. Why would media who otherwise wouldn’t even look at these actors feature them? Simple! Mental health and depression is selling right now. Sushant has helped them to earn their two minutes of fame.

Now on July 14, it will be a month since he died and just watch, the amount of coverage Sushant will get on that day. Its ironic his mental health issues were due to not being recognised enough and now he is trending the charts after his death and will continue to do so till another tragedy strikes.

It is sad but that is the new voyeuristic, capitalistic, digital world we currently live in.