Ramesh Sharma would stand for hours in front of Shah Rukh Khan's Bandra residence 'Mannat', just to snatch a glimpse of his hero. And even on a 'lucky' day, all the teenager would get to see was the actor stepping into his car and speeding away.
That's history for Sharma now who converses regularly with King Khan, comments on his movies and offers advice -- that too from the comforts of his Thane home.
The actor is among the growing number of celebrities who are regular bloggers and make it a point to chat with their fans logging on at a pre-decided time.
For instance, Aamir Khan (www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm) is an active blogger, with over 50 postings - the last one on January 21, 2008 - and active chat sessions.
Subtly driving a social message home, the actor said in one of his postings: "While on behavior (sic) and dignity, I am deeply disappointed with those of you who have watched TZP (Taare Zameen Par) on a pirated DVD/VCD, or when illegally shown on cable, or on websites which have illegally uploaded the film. How can you be my fans, or fans of Indian Cinema, or any cinema for that matter if you steal from us? Sad."
Other celebrity bloggers include management guru Deepak Chopra, actors Rahul Bose, Anupam Kher, Shekhar Kapoor, Rahul Khanna, Member of Parliament Milind Deora and cricketer Parthiv Patel among others.
Most of them are registered with Intentblog.com, while yesteryear cricketer and commentator Ravi Shastri has just launched his blog on ibibo.com.
Vijay Mukhi, internet guru and pioneer of the medium in the country, says, "Bogging by celebrities is a recent phenomenon and by posting their opinion on social networking sites such as Orkut and Facebook, which have millions of viewers, they are trying to reach out to the youth in the country. The internet is a more potent medium than TV and print, due to its interactivity."
Moreover, the web is a lot more unconventional medium, compared with TV channels or newspapers that are much more orthodox on the content side. There is no one to regulate the content on the web, which is also one of the reasons for its popularity, he added.
But do these blogs have genuine visitors? Ibibo Web Pvt Ltd General Manager (Community Marketing) Vivek Bahl says 'Yes'. Ibibo is the company that is hosting Ravi Shastri's blog.
Visitors are flocking to these blogs and the traffic to the blogs depends on the celebrity status of the blogger.
For example if a celebrity has over 50 messages, it means that the number of visitors to the site is least 10 times (1:10 ratio) more than the replies posted, he said. It was found that SRK's blog on Intentblog.com has over 500 messages, and the number of visitors would be much more the expected 5,000 people.
But do these celebrities write their own blogs? "That is debatable", said Mukhi and added, "they might be employing ghost writers."
