There are many among us who’ve had a friend or a relative who becomes famous and successful. It impacts our lives in some ways too.
Two people on Quora respond to a query on how life changed after being friends with Suraj Sharma (who starred in Life Of Pi) and Priyanka Chopra.
"It sucks," says Ayushi Mona who went to school with Sharma.
She writes:
I went to school with Suraj Sharma. We shared a Maths class. He was best friends with the ‘popular kids’ in school. I wasn’t close friends with him but was close to his best friends who were on the council with me in school. His girlfriend lived near my house.
One day, we got to know that he was going to shoot for Life of Pi with Ang Lee.
We were all gobsmacked really. Suraj was the quintessential Ron Weasley in school. He hung out with people who received attention but he was treated like a lovable buffoon. He was lanky and below average in every way (from athletics to academics). However he was affable and in general, liked.
Soon enough, rumours started flying about the millions of dollars that he was getting. Apparently (I don’t think this information’s made it to the media) but he’d gone to the auditions for his younger brother, who acted but he also ended up auditioning and getting selected instead. Serendipity.
He was in grade 12 when he got the role, so he dropped a year for the movie.
What I saw next was almost like a lesson in the pettiness of mankind:
1. His girlfriend gave several interviews(including one to New York Times) about how he had proposed marriage to her and how he was extremely romantic. (All lies. He broke up with her. Though he was dating her for a couple of years, which in school, is a lifetime).
2. His friends got jealous, passed a lot of snide comments. Some would even go to persona non gratas in the school popularity list and bitch about how he was undeserving, dumb and gossip.
3. He began to be treated deferentially and even angrily by the staff and students (some of them). He returned to school to finish off his board exams one year after all of us passed out. I met him once when I’d returned from college to meet my old teachers and juniors and as far as I could see, even juniors who’d been close to him gave him a wide berth.
4. A few close friends though stuck by (the ones he went to Stephen’s with).
Even “close” friends ditch you because of their insecurities or parade you like a trophy when you get famous.
However, it was quite surreal to see him in Life of Pi and awkward too. I couldn’t relate him to the character. He was just Suraj in my head! it was also weird to see him shirtless. Because I knew the person, I couldn’t reconcile him with the actor.
I haven’t seen Million Dollar Arm yet but he’s been awfully nice to our mutual DU friends from what they’ve told me. He hugged one girl (a friend) who was a nobody in school and told her he missed her even though he’d never spoken to her in school.
High school is a hierarchical trauma center for a lot of kids. Suraj went from being the bespectacled sidekick to the hero.
I guess fame’s weird for both- the one who becomes famous as well as those who knew him before.
Then there’s Mayank Sinha who still finds it hard to believe that the girl from his locality who shared his school and tuition class would go on to become Miss World and then a famous actress.
He writes about Priyanka:
It is kind of a strange feeling, at one end you feel proud of being so close to someone as famous as XYZ, and then comes the frustration (especially during job appraisal seasons), “woh kahan pahunch gayi aur tuu kahan rah gaya” (where has she reached, and where have you been left) :D
In my case it is Priyanka Chopra, yes The PeeCee.. we were in the same school in +2 and also shared the same coaching after the school, even more our houses were also close by.. Never a close friend to say so, but same Section of the class, same optional subject, same coaching.. so quite a lot of similarity (besides she had looks of a model and I of a sample)
The worst came when I joined the college after +2, and became an instant hit, by the name “Priyanka Chopra’s classmate”.. the highly sought after fresher, who was a source of live entertainment for the seniors, answering their unending (and most of the time obnoxious) questions about her..”Any boyfriend in school”, “How was she in school”, “Did you ever tried your chance”.. blah blah (those censored ones.. ;)
It was quite a journey for her, from Ms. India to Bollywood and now one of the highly paid actor over there..
Still when we have the long drinking sessions, while watching TV, often emotions erupt, “Bhai, tuu yakeen nahin maanega, lekin aise saath baithi hai mere, aur aaj dekho hickk” (Bro, you wont believe me, but she use to sit almost next to me, and see where is she today)..
And then he shares this class photo of them. Can you spot Peecee in it?
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Two people on Quora respond to a query on how life changed after being friends with Suraj Sharma (who starred in Life Of Pi) and Priyanka Chopra.
"It sucks," says Ayushi Mona who went to school with Sharma.
She writes:
I went to school with Suraj Sharma. We shared a Maths class. He was best friends with the ‘popular kids’ in school. I wasn’t close friends with him but was close to his best friends who were on the council with me in school. His girlfriend lived near my house.
One day, we got to know that he was going to shoot for Life of Pi with Ang Lee.
We were all gobsmacked really. Suraj was the quintessential Ron Weasley in school. He hung out with people who received attention but he was treated like a lovable buffoon. He was lanky and below average in every way (from athletics to academics). However he was affable and in general, liked.
Soon enough, rumours started flying about the millions of dollars that he was getting. Apparently (I don’t think this information’s made it to the media) but he’d gone to the auditions for his younger brother, who acted but he also ended up auditioning and getting selected instead. Serendipity.
He was in grade 12 when he got the role, so he dropped a year for the movie.
What I saw next was almost like a lesson in the pettiness of mankind:
1. His girlfriend gave several interviews(including one to New York Times) about how he had proposed marriage to her and how he was extremely romantic. (All lies. He broke up with her. Though he was dating her for a couple of years, which in school, is a lifetime).
2. His friends got jealous, passed a lot of snide comments. Some would even go to persona non gratas in the school popularity list and bitch about how he was undeserving, dumb and gossip.
3. He began to be treated deferentially and even angrily by the staff and students (some of them). He returned to school to finish off his board exams one year after all of us passed out. I met him once when I’d returned from college to meet my old teachers and juniors and as far as I could see, even juniors who’d been close to him gave him a wide berth.
4. A few close friends though stuck by (the ones he went to Stephen’s with).
Even “close” friends ditch you because of their insecurities or parade you like a trophy when you get famous.
However, it was quite surreal to see him in Life of Pi and awkward too. I couldn’t relate him to the character. He was just Suraj in my head! it was also weird to see him shirtless. Because I knew the person, I couldn’t reconcile him with the actor.
I haven’t seen Million Dollar Arm yet but he’s been awfully nice to our mutual DU friends from what they’ve told me. He hugged one girl (a friend) who was a nobody in school and told her he missed her even though he’d never spoken to her in school.
High school is a hierarchical trauma center for a lot of kids. Suraj went from being the bespectacled sidekick to the hero.
I guess fame’s weird for both- the one who becomes famous as well as those who knew him before.
Then there’s Mayank Sinha who still finds it hard to believe that the girl from his locality who shared his school and tuition class would go on to become Miss World and then a famous actress.
He writes about Priyanka:
It is kind of a strange feeling, at one end you feel proud of being so close to someone as famous as XYZ, and then comes the frustration (especially during job appraisal seasons), “woh kahan pahunch gayi aur tuu kahan rah gaya” (where has she reached, and where have you been left) :D
In my case it is Priyanka Chopra, yes The PeeCee.. we were in the same school in +2 and also shared the same coaching after the school, even more our houses were also close by.. Never a close friend to say so, but same Section of the class, same optional subject, same coaching.. so quite a lot of similarity (besides she had looks of a model and I of a sample)
The worst came when I joined the college after +2, and became an instant hit, by the name “Priyanka Chopra’s classmate”.. the highly sought after fresher, who was a source of live entertainment for the seniors, answering their unending (and most of the time obnoxious) questions about her..”Any boyfriend in school”, “How was she in school”, “Did you ever tried your chance”.. blah blah (those censored ones.. ;)
It was quite a journey for her, from Ms. India to Bollywood and now one of the highly paid actor over there..
Still when we have the long drinking sessions, while watching TV, often emotions erupt, “Bhai, tuu yakeen nahin maanega, lekin aise saath baithi hai mere, aur aaj dekho hickk” (Bro, you wont believe me, but she use to sit almost next to me, and see where is she today)..
And then he shares this class photo of them. Can you spot Peecee in it?
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