The first thing I saw on my morning Facebook dive was a beaming Kunal Kapoor wishing himself a happy birthday from a lamp post in Mumbai.
A celebrity garlanding himself on public property is not new in this country; what was new is that Kapoor did it knowingly, deliberately, and, to his credit, hilariously.
Hoardings everywhere
Mumbai has long been the unofficial national gallery of political hoardings. Despite the Bombay High Court’s ritual scolding and the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act gathering dust, the city’s walls continue to sprout smiling netas as though photosynthesis depends on it.
Election, festival, felicitation … it never stops. So Kunal, in a moment of wicked clarity, decided to join the party. If you cannot beat them, deface with them. Enter the poster boy of civic sarcasm.
Not his birthday, actually
Naturally, the internet – whose members take birthdays more seriously than income tax – rushed to wish him. Kapoor then had to break it gently. No, it is not his birthday. That falls on October 18.
This was not a vanity project but an awareness drive. A small, tasteful protest against the visual pollution that politicians treat as their ancestral right.
Why not us too?
And that got me thinking. Why should politicians – and the odd Bollywood actor – have all the fun? Maybe we, the ordinary citizens condemned to anonymity, should also take to the chaurastas with our own posters. Instant fame at a signal near you.
After all, not everyone is lucky enough to have Kunal’s cheekbones or celebrity halo. I, for one, would like to see myself up there so that my dearest friend, who has missed wishing me on my birthday with clinical precision all these years, finally gets the reminder. Unless, of course, he is hiding under some rock or locked indoors by divine intervention.
Hope it is not a stunt
Still, a tiny part of me hopes this is not yet another Bollywood publicity stunt. Our actors have a curious habit of attempting ‘weird feats’ moments before a movie or series drops.
A lesson for our netas
But for now, let us give Kunal his due. In a city plastered end to end with political faces, he turned the mirror around. And for one brief moment, Mumbai looked up at a hoarding and saw not a politician, but a question. A point made with charm.
If only our politicians would learn from him: less defacement and more self-awareness, and maybe a little humour.
