I have faith that this community can intelligently discuss these two non-Indian news stories, and also find interesting ways to compare them to Indian news stories.
Prince Harry and Meghan are Moving to Canada!
My first thought with this story was “I think this is only unusual because it is now”. Like, 100 years ago as royals moved farther down in the line of succession, they sort of disappeared into the regular world. That comes up all the time with discussions of Queen Elizabeth having a “normal” childhood because her father was just the heir’s brother. But celebrity culture has exploded, and the royals “jobs” have increasingly become going around being charming and visiting places (instead of just giving a speech at the opening of some local parade and then going home and having dinner, they are flying to New Zealand), suddenly just going off and living your own life instead of being a full time royal is a big news story.
But feel free to disagree! And say anything else you want related to this! And draw comparisons to Shweta Bachchan, or Aish struggling with marrying Abhishek, or anything else similar with the “royals” of Indian film.
Brad Pitt is Now Openly Talking About His Addiction Issues
I find this fascinating! Because he was a “functioning” alcoholic in the celebrity sense. There weren’t crazy stories coming from film sets or anything like that. And now that he is sober, his “celebrity” life hasn’t drastically changed, I don’t think he is any more or less famous than before or getting different jobs or anything. But because he is open about his journey, there are various little things from gossip stories that make you go “oh! I see now!” At least, for me.
Do we think there are Indian stars who have this level of addiction issues, not dramatic and obvious but still affecting their lives in subtle public ways? If that is the case, and if they get sober, is there a responsibility to tell the public what is going on with them or does it not really matter? And am I the only one who thought “Oh! That’s why Brad Pitt’s career has never felt like it made sense!”
dontcallitbollywood 
The impression I have with the royals stuff is that part of it is also about the official Royal Family guidelines for media, which they are trying to get out of or change. I don’t know if there’s an Indian film analogy that might be interesting?
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The Royals thing isn’t business as usual for a few reason:
1) Terrible, awful racism in Meghan’s media coverage and Harry being very vocal about comparing the coverage she gets to how his mother died.
2) The couple’s desire to overtly monetize their Sussex Royal brand while also continuing to get financial support from the Royal family (and by extension the taxpayers).
3) The only way this would be comparable in Bollywood is if Aish was subjected to nasty caste related press coverage and then Aish and Abhi created a Bachchan brand and started selling it against the wishes of Jaya and Amitabh while also taking an allowance from J&A.
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Wait! Here’s the Indian movie crossover we needed.
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Yes!!!!! And Ramya Krishnan is Prince Charles.
On Sun, Jan 12, 2020 at 1:17 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Another one
https://twitter.com/Sedboi17/status/1216473077925711872?s=09
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HA!!! And this goes back to what we were discussing, the break along marriage lines related to a marriage to someone from another part of society is totally familiar in Indian society/celebrity, just not at this highly public level.
On Sun, Jan 12, 2020 at 7:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Tell me more about the “Sussex Brand” issues! Is this like selling their names and faces to brands? Or is it branding charities? Or is it straight up being paid to show up at social events Paris Hilton style? Or something else I can’t understand?
On Sun, Jan 12, 2020 at 1:13 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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No one exactly knows yet. They have trademarked Sussex Royal and they are talking about building their brand but they haven’t gotten specific. I suspect all of the options above are going to come into play. Plus Meghan just announced she’s doing a voice over for a Disney film so I suspect she’s going to go back to her acting career only at a much higher level than she was at before.
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She’s also in negotiations with fashion brands like Givenchy. I assume she will make millions from promoting it while funneling a small percent into charity so people can’t complain about it.
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Hmmm. I wonder what this is going to look like in 5 years. If they will be respectable hardworking modest charity people, or will have turned the corner into Fergie-land.
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For another angle on the Sussex Royal kerfuffle, check out this article:
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This side by side comparison of Kate and Meghan news items is crazy.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal
I usually can’t care much about royals but this saga got interesting.
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