They ‘killed’ the He-man

What a tumultuous week has gone by a devastating bomb went off at the Red Fort in Delhi bringing back horrific memories of 1993 when we in Mumbai were hit by 12 explosions beginning at the Share Bazaar and ending at Sea Rock Hotel But this week in South Mumbai we had a far more ldquoseriousrdquo issue It was announced that the great Dharmendra had been admitted to a hospitalThe hospital went berserk cameras seemed to be placed everywhere the spy cams were inserted in glucose drips in bed pans they were inserted in BP machines in stethoscopes in ECG machines 2D echoes in ventilators Ward boys were shooting the matinee idol for a fee there were more cameras trained on Dharmendra than in his entire career in over 300 film shootsThe ldquosocial media expertsrdquo came out in full force the news brigade had a handle on the HeManrsquos health ldquoHe is recovering he is relapsing he is reminiscing he is restingrdquo In these times of ldquonews that hovers between life and deathrdquo there are those that seem to know everything They have info as specific as ldquooh actually he has passed but the family is just waiting for the lsquorightrsquo time to announcerdquo And then therersquos the most reliable source of all ldquohis teamrdquo who announced that he had in fact ldquopassedrdquoThis was the moment that national mourning ldquocommencedrdquo all hell broke loose on the internetThe tributes came pouring in The memes read ldquoDharmendra 19352025rdquo with young shots of him as a hunk in Satyakam with Meena Kumari in Phool aur Pathar and pictures of his two daughters from his first marriage his first wife was unearthed placed side by side with Hema Malini gossip even at time like thisThe media went yamla pagla deewanahellipWithin the hour Dharamjirsquos colleagues had all spoken about him Shotgun spoke about theyrsquod begun their careers together and contemporary colleagues spoke of his kindness and earthiness The nation was shedding collective tearsThe Heman was no more they had ldquooffedrdquo Garam Dharamhellip why would we question this tragedyMy own memories came flooding in my back pocket being picked outside Novelty Cinema when I went to watch Pocket Maar a pickpocket had flinched my wallet aged 12 ldquoJay Jayhellip tu thik hai nardquo as Bachchan lay dying in Dharamrsquos arms in Minerva him dressed in all black atop a bridge in Yaadon Ki Baraat hersquod graced every screen in the Lamington Road area mdashImperial Naaz AlankarhellipldquoOh no not another death first Asrani then Satish now Dharmendrardquo we all saidBut there was a ldquokahaani mein twistrdquo The family announced that Dharamji was alive ldquoThe media has killed our lsquoGaram Dharamrsquo prematurelyrdquo they complainedDream Girl Hema Malini was besides herself with anger called everyone ldquoshamelessrdquo calling the fake news ldquounforgiveablerdquo Dharamji is not dead Sunny Deol shouted at the media louder than he had yelled at the enemy in Gadar ldquoWe want our privacy at this timerdquoWhat followed I found most interesting No one felt guilt no felt remorseful for having killed Dharmendrarsquo prematurely ldquoHappens nardquoThe general sentiment seemed to be ldquowhatrsquos so shameless about fake newsrdquo mdash itrsquos news right ldquoWho needs to fact check if it makes for sensational readingrdquoA real bomb had exploded outside the Red Fort people had actually died this time it wasnrsquot a terrorist but a doctor surely that was real news that needed some reporting mdash one newsman said to me ldquousmein kya news hai its bound to be an attack by Pakistan therersquoll be a retaliation by us same old same old similar things have happened in Mumbai in 1993hellip no biggiehellip this is real news hoax or not this is what gets eyeballs BossrdquoThe cynical assessment was ldquoitrsquos the Deol PR machinery at playrdquo Itrsquos true the cat was out of the bag national mourning had begun lsquothe kuthhe kamineysrsquo had begun their eulogies their epitaphs their editorials the horse has bolted mdash when a horse has bolted surely you canrsquot lead it backYup the halfeulogies continue the semiepitaphs continue the editorials have semi apologisedhellip but while Dharmendra battles to regain his health we are always NEWS mdash a Nation Endlessly Waiting for ScoopsRahul daCunha is an adman theatre directorplaywright filmmaker and traveller Reach him at rahuldacunhamiddaycom