A video is being circulated in the social media apparently that of Virat Kohli’s hotel room. He was clearly not there in the room and someone who had access, decided to videograph and circulate it. It is a gross violation of one’s privacy and it is something the BCCI, CA & ICC will have to investigate. Invasion of a cricketer’s privacy or for that matter anyone’s privacy is a serious matter. This has gone beyond any sort of decency. Kohli is rightly aghast.
In an Instagram post, he had revealed the breach of privacy
“I understand that fans get very happy and excited seeing their favourite players and get excited to meet them and I’ve always appreciated that. But this video here is appalling and it’s made me feel very paranoid about my privacy. If I cannot have privacy in my own hotel room, then where can I really expect any personal space at all?? I’m NOT okay with this kind of fanaticism and absolute invasion of privacy. Please respect people’s privacy and not treat them as a commodity for entertainment.”
The hotel room of any sportsperson is as sacrosanct as the dressing room. No one except most trusted are allowed to get in. The Indian cricketers are in the public eye all the time. They are in action throughout the year and every action is scrutinised. For someone like Kohli, he just cannot go out of his home for the fear of being mobbed. Tendulkar is known to drive his Ferrari at 3AM just to escape the eyes of the public. As such, these cricketers do not have privacy anywhere. Ofcourse, it is the same public that have made these cricketers into millionaires. It is the same public that have made these cricketers into celebrities. That does not mean that the cricketers are public property. They are not. They are just ordinary folks like anyone who are good in what they are doing.
If someone can freely walk into the room, anything can happen. It can even be disastrous. Ever since the match fixing saga, players were all closely monitored. With whom are they talking, who is visiting them and other things. This is during the match days. In the middle of the World Cup, the monitoring will be higher. Under such a scenario, it really is baffling that something like this happened.
Gautham Gambhir wants a stop to hero worship
It looks like the hotel authorities have apologised to the Indian team and have taken action against the person. However, it all boils down to the Indians worshipping the stars. Some weeks ago, Gautham Gambhir, the former Indian opener, called on this sort of worshipping to stop. At that time, I didn’t bother much about it. It was right after Kohli’s first T20 hundred against Afghanistan when Gambhir was flabbergasted that Kumar who took 5 wickets in the same game wasn’t talked about at all but Kohli garnered all the attention.
“When Kohli got a 100 and there was this young guy from a small town of Meerut [Bhuvneshwar Kumar], who also managed to get five wickets, no one even bothered to speak about him. This was so unfortunate. I was the only one, during that commentary stint, who said that. He bowled four overs and got five wickets and I don’t think anyone knows about that. But Kohli scores a 100 and there are celebrations everywhere in this country. India needs to come out of this hero worship”.
What do I think?
Now, I think I do agree with Gambhir’s views. It is because of this fact, the privacy of the players are breached. Spectators who are eager to know more about their heroes go the extra mile to tread into their private lives. This is not just restricted to cricketers alone. In India, film personalities, politicians are also worshipped. There is a classic saying in this country. The spectators know more about the players than the players themselves.
Across every ground in India, as soon as the game is finished, you will be able to see close to a thousand people thronging the bus meant for the players. All to just catch a glimpse of their stars. The hero worship is so bad in this country that the average fan is affected when the team loses but if his favourite cricketer has performed in that game and yet the team loses, he or she doesn’t mind that much. As long as his or her favourite was among the runs or among the wickets, the team losing did not matter.
Some years ago, when Tendulkar scored his 100th hundred, the whole nation rejoiced. There were celebrations throughout the country. His best 100 among the hundreds were dissected. Opinions were sought, praises were sung, the 100s discussed threadbare but how many gave a hoot to the fact that India lost that game and it was down to Tendulkar?
Similarly, Kohli broke his barren run against Afghanistan and the whole country celebrated, me included but the fact that India was knocked out before that game took a backseat. Kohli himself has said that he find life peaceful outside of India where no one bothers him but this breach happened in Australia means, things are not as easy for Kohli as it may seem.
Wrapping up invasion of Kohli’s privacy
As Gambhir pointed out, this all boils down to hero worship in this country. Someone who needed likes on Instagram has gone onto shoot a video assuming that the billions of Indians will like that and thereby gaining him followers. There were actually 2 in that hotel room. One who shot the video and another woman who was just observing. This was equal to breaking and entering. No one except the cleaning staff are allowed inside anyone’s hotel room but the fact that this fellow was fully suited meant that it could have only been a hotel official and he is not allowed entry without permission.
India did not report the matter to ICC or CA at that time but only to the hotel management.
Other blogs about Kohli can be read here, here, here and here.