I treat negative commenters as background noise: Yash Rohan

A portion of Bangladesh's netizen community shocked everyone when Yash Rohan, an established and beloved young actor, was bombarded with negative comments owing to his post related to Bijaya Dashami. All he had done was post 'Shubho Bijaya' in front of a sculpture of Goddess Durga, a principal deity in Hinduism. The attacks were related to Yash belonging to the Hindu religion, which many close-minded individuals could not fathom. Some even commented that they'd refrain from watching any films or television projects by Yash, just because he believes in a different religion to them.

Photo: Collected

"To be honest, this is all just background noise to me," says Yash, audibly confident, over the phone. "Honestly, I'm not really surprised by the comments. Rather, I tried my best to remain civil in the face of disrespect. I found that to be the best way to deal with these people." The actor, who is currently in Khulna for shooting, finds strength in the reassurance that he received from his peers in the industry, as well as his fans. "What left me speechless was when many colleagues made it a point to stand up for me – writing posts and posting the picture in defiance of what these people stood for," says the "Swapnajaal" actor.

The observation brought me to the important question: are the people of Bangladesh becoming increasingly desensitised to saying the vilest things? "I personally don't think so," says Yash. "I like to believe that it's a small minority with amplified voices due to the nature of social media itself. Under these comments are droves of people retaliating against them, so I would much rather focus on that."

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Moving forward, Yash Rohan believes that the fact that many spoke out against misconduct will be a positive influence in encouraging others to move forward as well. "I hope there's more instances where people will stand up for my colleagues in the entertainment industry – it's high time."