Bollywood celebs' definition of poor is both funny and depressing
What's the story
What do you think being poor means? Hiding skin using tattered clothes, sleeping on empty stomach, right? Looks like the images the word poor prompts for most of us, doesn't do the same for few Bollywood celebrities. Case-in-point: Ranveer Singh, for whom just one summer holiday abroad defined 'not having money'. Sadly, Singh isn't the only one having a skewed idea of poverty.
The smell of privilege
No, Ranveer not having money and foreign trips aren't related
Ranveer Singh recently drew the most unbelievable connection between not having money and foreign trips. "We didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up. So my parents would save up for that one big summer holiday abroad; I remember going to Indonesia, Singapore, Italy, but most often it was the US-we had a lot of family there," he said.
Twitter Post
Twitter users trend #YoRanveerSoPoor to remind him of his privilege
If making annual trips abroad in the 90s was the doings of the poor, we need new adjectives for the economic status of 65% of our country’s population. #YoRanveerSoPoor
— BeingAlien (@Vaga__bound) May 5, 2018
"What problems"
Similarly, Parineeti Chopra thought riding bicycle equals being poor
Just like Ranveer Singh, Parineeti Chopra also narrated her ordeal. "We didn't have any money, so I used to commute by cycle, to school. We did not have a car or even money for the bus. I did not have the money to join martial arts," she had said. Her bluff was called out by her classmates on social media, and she drew flak.
Twitter Post
Later, Parineeti Chopra says her statements were misconstrued
My statement 🙏🙂 pic.twitter.com/U3mwLUJ0So
— Parineeti Chopra (@ParineetiChopra) May 30, 2017
"So much struggle"
Lest-we-forget: Kareena once said she had just one car
Kareena Kapoor Khan, Bollywood's first family's daughter, once said she struggled as a child. The reason? Because they had only one car, that too without a driver, *Just imagine* "I took the school bus like everyone else. We had one car and didn't have enough money for a driver," she had revealed. She added the 'bad days' made her both strong and fragile.
Bursting the bubble
Fact check: What having no money really means
There are high chances the abroad vacationing stars rarely paid attention to the grim reality of India's poor. In 2016, the World Bank revealed 30% Indian population (224 million people) lived below poverty line. "India is by far the country with the largest number of people living under the international USD 1.90 (Rs. 126.96) per day poverty line," the report said.
Save us the drama
There's nothing wrong in accepting your privileges
In a bid to gain empathy, stars denounce their privileges (and make such genius comments) at the slightest chance. Only if they knew, their true-life stories are what their fans need to know, not a tale wrapped in the garb of a non-existing sadness. Let's just hope they stop making such ludicrous statements, sooner than later, because we can't handle it anymore.