The Millennial Star

In the new age, many public figures have jumped onto the virtual bandwagon with all its trappings. Actor Sonam Kapoor is one of the earliest to have successfully conquered the space with clever panache

- Aekta Kapoor

It was winter 2015, and a cheesy Bollywood song had flooded the consciousness of Hindi film aficionados. Apparently, all of Instagram was alive with the sound of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, with groups of seemingly normal people suddenly breaking into hip-jerking fits for 15-second videos. All were vying to be the chosen ones who would be regrammed to leading lady Sonam Kapoor’s own feed. It was the viral marketing strategy of the decade, even more successful than the Salman Khan-starrer itself. And like Sonam’s own trajectory on social media, it was aspirational, spontaneous and completely organic.

There’s something about the 32-year-old Bollywood diva that strikes a chord with her mammoth virtual fan base — 15.3 million followers on Facebook, 10.4 million on Twitter, and 10.3 million on Instagram. It could be her fashion sensibility, of course. Sonam has been Bollywood’s undisputed fashionista — a word she hates, incidentally — ever since her 2010 film Aisha established her reign over all things couture. She has played showstopper for every designer worth his salt, and walked the red carpet in the unlikeliest of ensembles. Tall, beautiful and imminently photogenic, she is a sight for sore eyes even when dressed in quirky casuals just off a flight — definitely worth a ‘like’, or several million, on social media.