Stars turn bloggers

Mallika Sherawat once said in an interview, “If I wasn’t an actress, I would’ve been a writer.” While Mallika hasn’t taken her statement tad seriously, it seems to have inspired other filmi stars for sure.

Launching official websites is thing from the past, but tinsel town stars have now found the latest (latest for the actors!) publicity weapon: blogging!

From Bipasha to John and Shahrukh to Aamir, celebrities are indulging in web logs like no tomorrow. As Rahul Bose (he posted his first blog in 2005) puts it, “As a person who likes to think of himself as almost totally computer illiterate, starting a blog on intentblog is like crossing the rubicon.”

So what exactly are actors doing in the blog world? Are they there to make friends, address their fans or indulge in self-promotion? Well, all of the above mentioned actually. The credit, in fact, should go to media shy Aamir who started his first ever blog on MSN Spaces when Mangal Pandey was due for release. He interacted with his friends and fans at length. And now through his latest weblog of lagaandvd.com, he is keeping the readers posted about the latest in the actor’s life.

So what made this ultra shy guy to take to something that exposes him to the world. “This is the first time that I am doing something like this and I think I'm enjoying it. It’s really great to be able to connect with everyone directly. First hand, no mediator, no newspaper, magazine, or TV channel!” said Aamir in one his blogs.

He further says, “You'll should know that I rarely use the net, the computer scares me, and I usually can't get past the first step in anything electronic. So for me to manage a blog is a big one.”

If you happen to browse through Shah Rukh’s blog that he posted during the time when Paheli hit the theatres, you would get a feeling that all he is doing is yapping about his film ( Paheli in this case). However, Bipasha’s blog on her official website has become pretty popular that talks about John and her.

So is it just publicity stunt, reader connect or plain narcissism?

“There is, surely, an element of narcissism in the act of blogging and expecting people to give a hoot about what you have to express,” answers Bose.

Even other big and not-so-big shots like Anupam Kher, Suchitra Krishnamoorthy, Sanjay Suri, Rahul Khanna, Saira Mohan, and Deepak Chopra among many others are taking on to the web world, but not everyone is in the digital space to seek attention.

While Anupam prefers writing on thought-provoking subjects, Rahul Khanna’s blog reads: “I’ve never blogged before and the idea kind of terrifies me – I’m not a man of many words and, initially, I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. But here I am to talk my mind out.” Stars are blogging in, are you?