TV stars and social media seem to go hand in hand. Ridhi Dogra, last seen in Woh Apna Sa, claims to be one early mover.
“I have been penning my thoughts on Twitter as a virtual diary for years. My friends tell me that I have been clicking selfies with a normal camera, much before Instagram turned it into a rage.These things come naturally to me.”
“SM also enables direct interaction with fans, thereby helping to overcome the dreaded out-of-sight-is-out-of-mind syndrome,” says Ridhi, who has done several shows such as Maryada: Lekin Kab Tak?, Savitri and Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi (Season 6).
Ask her about the current trend of TV bahus donning bikinis for social media, is it because some of them want to shed their on-screen behenji image? “I don’t know about that. I never had such a persona.To each his own; if you can carry it off gracefully, be my guest. I have also clicked pictures in a swimsuit.What else can you wear on a beach or a pool? I really don’t think there is too much of agenda behind such things, for all sorts of pictures end up on SM. I personally don’t have so much spare time to engineer such things. I’d rather read a book or watch a movie. Even during photo shoot, I don’t brain storm much on concepts, preferring to go with the flow.”
Here,this better half of fellow TV actor, Raqesh Bapat, says, “If I ever planned a SM campaign, it would center on positivity, hope and goodness. This is the need of the hour, what with so much negativity all around. I am not saying this in a miss goody goody Mother Teresa mode, but in a much more practical way.”
“Today, we don’t have time for the person sitting to next to us owing to being glued to our phones. Hence, I would love to put out a message saying- just smile at whoever you are with.”
But do you think negative messaging generates enough traction, because let’s face it, bad news sells.“I will never tire of positivity, knowing that sooner or later, negativity takes a toll, while on the other hand, you can go on being positive all the time”.
“I feel happy even if one or two fans say that my messages lifted their mood. Here, I would request them not to spread bad news; we all know what isgoing on.Rather, why not put a positive spin to it?”
“It is also wrong to assume that the world has only now become a bad place. Bad stuff would happen earlier too. It’s just that now, with technology, news spreads much faster and wider. So we just need to filter out the undesirable elements, and try to spread more love and peace.”