JOIN USFrom rags to riches to trolls: the story of singer Ranu
Ranu Mondal became an overnight celebrity when a video of her singing ‘Ek pyaar ka nagma hai’ at Ranaghat station in West Bengal went viral. From a life of utter poverty and destitution, her journey into the glitzy world of fame was quick.
Social media users hailed her as the next Lata Mangeshkar (the popular track ‘Ek pyaar ka nagma hai’ was sung by Lata Mangeshkar for the 1972 film ‘Shor’) and the YouTube video of her singing received millions of hits. Ranu then went on to appear in popular reality shows and even got the chance to work with music composer and singer Himesh Reshammiya when he offered her a song in his movie ‘Happy Hardy and Heer’. There are also talks of a biopic on her, for which National Award-winning Bengali actress
Sudipta Chakraborty has been approached.
Her story, though quite inspiring, is also a sociological study. When the video of her singing the Lata Mangeshkar number went viral, Mangeshkar, in an interview, said that ‘imitation is not a reliable and durable companion for success’. Netizens found the comment ‘rude and unnecessary’, the legendary singer was termed ‘ungracious’. Fast forward a couple of months and the Indian Twitterati were outraged when a video of Ranu snapping at a fan did the rounds. The fan tapped on her shoulder and politely requested for a selfie. Ranu seemed annoyed and questioned the lady as to why she touched her, while also reminding her that she is a ‘celebrity’.
Fans and netizens reacted with shock, dismay and anger. Meme factories churned out deprecatory posts and many people agreed that ‘Lata didi had been right about Ranu’. Talk about a fall from grace!
A few days ago, Ranu again became the subject of online trolling after a photo of her in heavy makeup went viral.
The singer had gone to inaugurate a beauty parlour in Uttar Pradesh, and her photos after the make-up session opened the floodgates of the Internet. In these, she is seen with layers of foundation on her face to lighten her skin tone. Now a makeup artiste from the salon has put out an Instagram post calling these photos as fake ones.
On her Instagram handle, ‘sandhyasmakeover’, she has also shared the original picture and further added that while trolling and jokes are fine, these should not hurt the sentiments of people.
Despite this, many netizens have been unforgiving in their criticism of what they perceive is a shabby attempt by a poor woman to climb the social ladder. From comments reminding her about her age to pictures comparing her to the nun in horror movie ‘The Conjuring’, the posts are almost brutal.
A sliver of hope comes in the form of reminders from a handful of celebrities and influencers and others that the lady should be allowed to live her life and not trolled for something that wasn’t her mistake in the first place.