Twitterati: Hits 038; Misses

Amitabh Bachchan

Joined May 2010

Followers as on October 1 4,33,236

Amitabh Bachchan made blogging retro cool ever since he started posting his daily musings on bigadda.com. It was only a matter of time then that he would take to microblogging as well.

Bachchan displayed his trademark humour on his bio by writing,Actor 8230; well at least some are STILL saying so!

He is also meticulous about his posts by including the day of his tweet along with his post. Thus,T140 merely means the 140th day since he started using Twitter.

Bachchan8217;s tweets are as succinct and to the point as his blog-posts. He sometimes posts couplets in Hindi originally written by his late father Harvanshrai Bachchan and answers readers8217; queries as well. In short,Sr Bachchan delivers the complete Twitter package.

Tweet Upload: T129 8211; Damn ! tweeted at 6 in the morning and it did not go out ..was off to the gym .. shaping up for work .. today tech for KBC .. shivers

Asha Bhosle

Joined June 2010

Followers as on October 1 1,391

It is fascinating to watch the older generation take to a social networking-cum-microblogging website like Twitter.

Its huge popularity and the presence of peers and the younger generation of cine-stars have brought on celebrities like Javed Akhtar,Shabana Azmi,Anupam Kher and India8217;s most popular singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

Bhosle has only recently joined Twitter and seems to be figuring out the contours of the website,but the one thing her followers are guaranteed of are film nuggets of yesteryear actors and singers. Bhosle reminisces a lot and often throws up unknown gems in the form of tweets. Anyone looking to enrich their knowledge of Bollywood will find a useful treasure-trove in the days to come from Bhosle.

Tweet Upload: Practical Joker: Pancham told me Dir Prayag Raj was a vegetable- vendor. I discussed vegetable prices with him for many years till reality hit me. Ha!

Mahesh Bhatt

Joined N.A.

Followers as on October 1 62,069

Mahesh Bhatt certainly has a way with words,evident in his writings and quotable quotes that appear frequently in various publications. On Twitter,Bhatt carries forward his esoteric philosophies to his followers.

He also retweets posts from the Twitter handle of Jism 2 to post tweets layered with sexual innuendo. Sample this: Sexuality is the lyricism of the masses. His latest mission for the last few months has been to promote Vishesh Films8217; upcoming movie Crook. Bhatt8217;s timeline is thus a hotch-potch of many melting topics,just like the man himself.

Tweet Upload: My diary: There is a quality of wildness which erupts out of the neat frames humans try to impose on life. I am a drinker of wildness.

Priyanka Chopra

Joined N.A.

Followers as on October 1 6,70,742

The advantage of starting early certainly seems to have helped Priyanka Chopra beat the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and all the three Khans when it comes to the number of followers.

Bollywood8217;s Twitter queen currently rules with an astounding lead of about 10,000 followers to closest compatriot Shah Rukh Khan. Priyanka is forthright,candid and connects with her followers about any and all topics under the sun. She is also the only star to have been invited to the headquarters of the microblogging website in San Francisco while shooting for Anjaana Anjaani early this year.

Her regularity has also helped her climb the popularity charts on Twitter. Whether it is detailing the promo plans for her just-released Anjaana Anjaani or talking about her time on Khatron Ke Khiladi 3,her followers are always kept abreast of Priyanka8217;s happenings. She also used Twitter to congratulate her Fashion colleague Kangna Ranaut when they won the National Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively. In an interview to NDTV,she said,I was one of the first people to start with Twitter. And I got all my friends on Twitter. I prefer it over Facebook as Twitter is quicker.

Tweet Upload: Mood thoda strange hai aaj.. Koi hai jo mujhe hasayega?? Need to smile8230;

Salman Khan

Joined April 2010

Followers as on October 1 8211; 4,33,928

One certainty about Salman Khan on Twitter is the fact that he is not going to win any grammar awards. But credit must go to him to stay connected with the masses in his abbreviated Hindi and random picture uploads.

His Twitter page is riddled with anecdotal moments and are demonstrative of his state of mind at any time of the day.

Thus,he may chide his followers to go do some real work rather than reply to his tweets and simultaneously upload a photo of one of the cast members from Dabangg.

He threatened to quit Twitter after his statement on 26/11 to a Pakistani channel turned into a controversy,but came back to tweet about all his different fingers,or phingers as he calls them. As long as Salman is around,fun time is always guaranteed.

Tweet Upload: Jisne twitter banaya usko dhanyawaad,aur twitter ke adarniya sadasyo ko pranaam. Hum saath saath haiiiiii8230;

Shah Rukh Khan

Joined January 2010

Followers as on October 1 6,60,995

Shah Rukh Khan is tinseltown8217;s favourite celebrity,reflected in his gargantuan number of followers from all over the world.

Shah Rukh is an avid conversationalist and it reflects in his tweets where he holds forth on topics as diverse as existentialism,his acting methods,his love and aspirations for his children. He even holds open question and answer sessions with his followers at times.

Shah Rukh used the microblogging to maximum impact at the height of the My Name Is Khan controversy,by sticking to his stand of picking Pakistani cricketers for IPL 3 that led to a huge furore in Maharashtra.

Tweet Upload: Of all the nudities in the world,the most unacceptable to man is the naked truth. So lets have the strength to accept that from today.

Shekhar Kapur

Joined N.A.

Followers as on October 1 4,774

The contradiction lies in the number of followers who have signed up to read Kapur8217;s tweets. The I exist because you imagine I do description on his bio also does precious little to enhance his popular appeal.

His tweets are a studied response to his next movie Paani and harp on various issues of water conservation and wastage. In between,other issues of national importance such as the Commonwealth Games fiasco and the Ayodhya temple verdict find mention in his timeline.

He interacts and clears issues with his foreign followers and tries to give them perspective about India and its customs. Kapur also likes to take up cudgels for the poor and the neglected citizens of the country and tries to give them a voice.

Youngsters who think of themselves as pseudo-activists retweet many of his tweets to their own followers in the vain hope that it will change the country8217;s apathy to its pressing issues. In short,Kapur8217;s tweets show that the global director remains resolutely Indian.

Tweet Upload: A mother cries for food for her children n father fights to protect them as millions live only on hope,let THAT be the real issue.

Sonam Kapoor

Joined N.A.

Followers as on October 1 2,63,455

Sonam Kapoor was a prolific tweeter until the entire controversy with Shobhaa De broke out after the release of I Hate Luv Storys. Her tweets after the issue blew over have been largely taken up by the books and movies she watches.

Sonam displays an avid sense of reading and critiquing and also of fashion in her tweets. While they sometimes appear drab,keeping up with Sonam can sometimes cheer you up while reminiscing about one of the many books/ movies she devours.

If only she8217;d get back her frankness,her followers would be immensely grateful.

Tweet Upload: Watching Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja in the song O mere dil ke chain Tanuja is beautiful and Kajol totally takes after her mom and maasi..

Of Arrivals,Departures and Infrequent Tweeters

Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan arrived with a bang but caused his followers to whimper in the days to come. The actor made a huge announcement about joining Twitter and even gave interviews regarding the same.

After initial confusion about his Twitter handle his ID,Aamirs posts were few and far-between. His last tweet was on August 16 and the 3,29,397 followers on his account are flummoxed about his sudden disappearance from Twitter.

Preity Zinta

Preity Zinta has just crossed 4 lakh followers but her frequency of tweets dropped soon after the third edition of IPL got over in April.

Nobody really knows what happened in the interim and Ms Zinta certainly isn8217;t telling. However,over the past two weeks Preity has picked up pace and her followers are responding in kind. It certainly qualifies as a Twitter comeback.

Farhan Akhtar

While he may exhort you to Rock On!! and watch him chase Don once again next year,Farhan has left his followers in the lurch after nearly going off Twitter and extensively plugging his last release Karthik Calling Karthik early this year.

No tweets in July,a hurried note about Don 2 and sympathy for boxer Sushil Kumar in September with a few tweets interspersed in between does not make for an ideal Twitter profile.

Abhishek Bachchan Rather than tweet daily musings and inject them with his brand of humour as he used to,Abhishek has now taken to replying extensively to the many fans who write to him with queries. His timeline is an endless list of responses to his fans.

Checking his timeline these days is thus fraught with hesitation on part of his followers. Followers need to know what Abhishek is doing rather than what he thinks his fans should be doing.

Imran Khan It8217;s difficult to believe that Imran Khan has actually left Twitter. Especially since he didn8217;t even leave a good-bye note for his followers. He simply purged it out of existence.

Extensively sharing anecdotes at the shoot of his movies I Hate Luv Storys and Break Ke Baad,the actor also connected with his fans via Twitter by giving out helpful personal tips about topics such as dating. It will be interesting to see how he reaches out to his online fans or whether he will be back after the short break when Break Ke Baad releases on November 25.

Genelia D8217;Souza

While we can8217;t fault Genelia for not being regular on Twitter,the quality of her tweets has deteriorated over time. Simply saying Good Morning and giving some shoot details and interacting with Riteish Deshmukh is not going to cut any ice with her followers.

We hope interesting things come our way from the bubbly actress in the near future.

Lara Dutta

Tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi and actor Lara Dutta officially announced their engagement on Twitter last month. 8220;So DuttaLara and me got engaged in NY last week. Its official now, Bhupathi tweeted while Dutta thanked everyone for the good wishes.

Earlier,actors Konkana Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey had also announced their marriage on Twitter.

The Absentees

Celebrities such as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,Saif Ali Khan,Katrina Kaif and Kajol are yet to join Twitter. Fake profiles involving most of these stars are already on Twitter but some of them are yet to fall for the microblogging websites allure.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan told Screen,I am not on Facebook,Twitter or any blogging site. If I feel like sharing something,I will use my husband8217;s Twitter account or start my own website in the future.

Saif Ali Khan has said that he dislikes sharing everything about himself with his fans and wants to maintain the aura filmstars had in innocent times. I personally feel that some distance should be maintained between the audiences and the actor. That8217;s my personal opinion, he said in a recent interview.

Katrina Kaif,too,had to clarify that she does not have a social networking existence when a director communicated a script to a fake profile of Katrina. In another incident,Katrina happened to get a call from a famous studio head about another project,which was discussed on a networking site.