Feasting on the Lives of Others

I write this column, reports are streaming in that Saif Ali Khan has recorded his police statement on the stabbing and attempted robbery case.

- NAMRATA JOSHI

But a lot else has transpired on the sidelines from the fateful morning of January 16, when the attempt took place, till date—in our imagination, conversations, calls, texts, Instagram reels and media shows.

Despite a statement from Kareena Kapoor Khan "respectfully and humbly" requesting "the media and paparazzi to refrain from relentless speculation and coverage," it is exactly what has come to pass. The Khan family hasn't been left alone by the unrelenting coverage going overboard in its quest for ratings, as every other living room in the country has been waiting to know each minute detail in the chain of events.

New paradigms have been set over the last 10 days of saturation coverage—from the screams of his younger son Jehangir's nanny to confronting the intruder, from the stabbings and a piece of knife stuck in the spine to the surgery at Lilavati Hospital, from the auto driver who rushed him to the hospital to his health insurance package, from the alleged Bangladeshi migrant criminal to its fallout on Indo-Bangladesh relations, and the mismatch between the intruder seen on CCTV and the person arrested.