*This is some kind of semi-pro vernacular-video emanation to promote a charity calendar for 2010. It struck me in watching this ditzy YouTube fodder that Bollywood stars are a small, tight community – because, to my vague alarm, I know every person in this video. Really. I do. Worse yet, I know all kinds of alarming Twitter-like personal details about them now, like, when they go to the gym, and when they get new haircuts, and when they catch a cold, and if they are being ludicrously persecuted by Shiv Sena zealots.
*I'm not even making an effort to learn that now, because it's all become push-media. I've been transformed into a Bolly stalker while scarcely lifting a finger.
*At the end of this video, Shah Rukh Khan briefly describes his current use of Twitter. He doesn't think that it's a film promotion platform, which is true. He clearly understands that it's a social network of a special kind. And he's exploring it, rather methodically. @iamsrk
*For Bollywood stars, yeah, Twitter definitely IS a social network – you can see 'em name-checking each other in there all the time, cheek-kissing, hey-babying each other, you were great in that role, give my regards to your wife kids and grandma... That was standard on-set behavior in an electronic mode, but they also do Twitter-specific stuff. They're rooting-out impostors pretending to be Bollywood stars. They're complaining about the press and routing around them to the fan base. They're crowd-sourcing stuff and running polls. In private direct messages, they surely must be sharing some diet and exercise tips.
*Because modern Bollywood stars in the 21st century look NOTHING like they did, even 20 years ago. They're a community in radical transformation. Look at 'em flaunting their toned physiques for this calendar. They could invade a set of Bollywood stars from forty years ago – soft, boozy, classic-India movie-stars like Raj Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia – and just tear them apart with their bare hands.
