Why Vivek got lucky, Not Saif Unlike actor Saif Ali Khan, a brawl involving actor Vivek Oberoi went unnoticed. After Hrs explores the anatomy of star brawls

Why Vivek got lucky, Not Saif

Unlike actor Saif Ali Khan, a brawl involving actor Vivek Oberoi went unnoticed. After Hrs explores the anatomy of star brawls

Actor Saif Ali Khan found himself hogging tremendous news space, soon after reports of his brawl with a fellow diner on Tuesday night broke out. The actor’s subsequent arrest and release on bail was much followed as well. Not too long ago, it was actor Shah Rukh Khan who made headlines in the same public domain for the slapgate incident, wherein he allegedly had roughed up filmmaker Shirish Kunder at a bash hosted by Sanjay Dutt. A few days post this incident it was actor Vivek Oberoi who apparently was involved in a brawl at a political rally being held in Mathura. According to sources, the actor had allegedly caught a man by his collar after he continued to pester the actor despite constant requests by Vivek to step away. But while the incidents involving Saif and Shah Rukh became topics of discussion overnight, sparking off public interest and triggering off innumerable debates, Vivek’s public spat failed to arouse the same level of interest, as his senior peers. Though there’s a segment of industry that believes that the incident in itself was not huge in magnitude, there are others who insist that a celebrity’s popularity and star status is directly proportional to the extent to which an incident gets mileage. “Celebrities always draw attention and when it comes to a public tamasha it gets all the more interesting for everyone. So bigger the name, the more eyeballs it grabs. So, had it been a bigger star than Vivek, even that incident would’ve been highlighted that much more,” says trade analyst Komal Nahta.“But in a way it works in favour of Vivek too, as he is spared by the excess of negative publicity that such incidents generate,” says a filmmaker. “What can’t be ruled out completely though is that Vivek was involved in a brawl in a smaller town, even if it was a political rally, while both SRK and Saif incidents happened in the city, especially where the incidents are likely to draw more attention,” opines Nahta. However neither of the industrywallahs disagree that a star’s standing in the industry is what will ultimately decide the impact of the incident. “Salman’s (Khan) infamous black buck shooting case had happened in Rajasthan, but it did not dim the impact. Incidentally Saif was involved in the case too,” they point out.