A beautiful veteran actress’s sister (who also tried her hand at acting many years ago) is ill, seriously ill. The actress and her action hero-boyfriend are worried sick since the ailing sis’s diagnosis reportedly came in after she’d crossed the initial stage of the dreaded disease. Friendly and talkative, the sis who is under treatment has many well-wishers in the film industry concerned about her condition.

The cute little son of an immensely successful actor has been having medical problems since his birth, making him a heart-wrenching contrast to his bright, chirpy sister.

The awful ‘C’ in the first instance and the defects at birth in the second, are problems that could strike anybody without warning. However, the common factor that links both is that the veteran actress and her ailing sister have both been keen smokers while the infant with a problem has parents who’re both known to religiously cart around their cigarette packets.

So do we draw a conclusion here that smoking perhaps compounded their problems? It’s a poignant situation that The Runaway Jury could debate forever without a conclusion.

With the growing global influence of the anti-smoking lobby, celebrity habits tend to go under the microscope. When Shah Rukh Khan turned 40 on November 2, 2005, he was far away in New York, shooting for Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (popularly christened KANK ). But TV channels here in India burst with headlines that the star had given up smoking ? it was his 40th birthday resolution. Health minister A. Ramadoss (who’d already ordered a contentious ban on smoking on screen) promptly jumped in to announce that his ministry (health) would get SRK on board to boost his campaign.

Unfortunately for them, the channels and the Honourable Minister had got their basic facts wrong because Shah Rukh has not given up smoking. “It’s a personal choice,” explains the actor, a trifle irritated at the attention his cigarettes are fetching him. “It shouldn’t be made into an issue to either say, ‘damn good’ or ‘damn bad’. It’s my life. But yes, I’ve cut down on it because I wanted to and not because it was my 40th birthday!” He firmly ends the scrutiny by stating, “If I wish to give it up, I will. If I don’t, that should be all right too.”

Understandably, the spotlight on a personal habit can be annoying for a celebrity. But doesn’t that come with the territory?

It’s something that 30-year-old Abhishek Bachchan has understood, even if it’s tough to accept without a grimace. When the media went into overdrive over his new romance with Aishwarya Rai and nearly led them to the altar too, AB Junior reacted with admirable calm. Instead of media bashing, he accepted, “We actors are public property. We are up for public scrutiny. It’s something you just have to learn to accept.” He thus shrugged off the harshness of the curiosity and got on with his work, refusing to let it turn into burdensome pressure. Abhishek even wisely commented, “If you don’t want to be under the microscope, don’t become an actor.”

It’s a piece of advice that his own mom Jaya Bachchan would desperately need today when she stands disqualified from the Rajya Sabha. Fame travels in both directions. It’s pretty obvious that Jaya’s social standing made her membership an important target to shoot down, just as it was her celebrity status that got her into the Rajya Sabha in the first place. After all, how many would instantly recall the name of the last Rajya Sabha member who was disqualified on the same grounds as Jaya?

If Jaya made the most opportune target because that makes headlines, it’s also true that her disqualification will have a far-reaching impact. Since it’s Jaya Bachchan standing there refusing to go down without a fight, there has to be a general cleansing of Parliament to flush out the members who hold an office of profit. Or, the rule about holding an office of profit will itself have to go under scrutiny, as is happening now. Either way, the debate and a conclusive end are possible only because a celebrity is in the thick of it.

The power to influence an opinion or to force a debate makes it all the more imperative for a public figure to face the glow and the glare of the spotlight with responsibility, not irritability. Basking in the glow of public adulation is the fun part of being a celebrity. But a celebrity has to bear the glare too ? and that’s when the fun stops, huh?

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor of Movie Mag International