Rejoicing in others’ failures
I decided to call Mimoh Mahaaksay not because I wanted to carry the illusion of having a star bigger than any Akshay in the industry but because that is his name. Mahaakshay Chakraborty. The son of Mithun Chakraborty and I thought that the name suited his personality better than Mimoh. I was supposed to launch him way before his first
film Jimmy. He accompanied Mithunda on the shooting of Elaan and I had even done a screen test of his on that outdoor but man proposes and the industry God disposes and so that was not to be. I did not make the film with him and Jimmy was his first film. It did not do well.
Flash to the present and Mithunda called me up at the end of the first week of Haunted’s run and asked me, “So is it a plus film?” I smiled to myself at his tentative approach. “It is a hit dada!” I answered. “Big hit?” he probed gently. “Yes dada! Big hit!” I assured him. There was silence at the other end and then I could sense a sea of emotions as he only managed to say, “You know Vicky, they really ridiculed my boy. They said he was not even worth becoming a junior artiste!” We both kept quiet for a bit. I had tears in my eyes as well. He hung up quickly after that but I remained in the deep abyss of that emotion.
I went back to the time when I had started the film and every other corporate house wanted to partner India’s first stereoscopic 3D film but they were apprehensive about Mimoh. One of them even asked me if Mimoh was a must. When I said that he was, they never got back to me. My friends were not very generous either and teased me about casting “Jimmy”. I bore it with the patience of a man who understood the adage, the world gauges you by what you have done whilst you gauge yourself by what you can do.
What is it about us that makes us kick a man who is down? Is there a sadistic streak in all of us? Was there a joy in seeing the son of a super star failing? I see the same sadism for not only Mimoh but for a lot of talent around. Abhishek has been repeatedly singled out and that too just because he is the son of Amitabh Bachchan? There is joy when a YRF film does not do well. Why is the failing of someone a source of joy and ridicule for another?
I think the answer is simple. Failure is comforting for others because it makes their mundane lackluster existence bearable. I remember in school when I did not do well in the test, the first thing I would tell my mother was that a lot of other kids did not do well too! It was a tough test. Other people’s failures make us less lonely and the more elite the company the better.
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