In the age of social media, celebrities are expected to do more than entertain. They are expected to constantly reassure the public of their politics, their values and their conscience—and even that is often not enough.

In the last few days, a familiar pattern has played out on social media. As protests gathered momentum across the country, a parallel protest unfolded online—against the celebrities who chose to remain silent. And when some eventually broke that silence with carefully worded statements, those too came under scrutiny. From Sonam Wangchuk's fast to the NEET protests, timelines have been flooded not just with calls for justice but with demands that public figures reveal where they stand.

The expectation itself isn't new. What has changed is its intensity. Once public figures do respond, every word is dissected. Increasingly, it isn't enough that they speak. What matters is whether they say exactly what people expect them to say. When Dulquer Salmaan put out a statement, some dismissed it as a carefully timed PR exercise ahead of his film release. Mammootty's post, though direct, was criticised by some for arriving too late. Jyothika, on the other hand, won praise for........

© Mathrubhumi English