It’s getting bitter on Twitter as celebrity cat-fights are played out on the micro-blogging site. The fur has been flying between Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar and Mahesh Bhatt for a while and while it’s illuminated their professional differences, the film-frat-pack is not above getting down, dirty and personal with their not-so-sweet tweets.

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma took a potshot at Karan Johar last month, “I will make My name is Raavan and Mani should make Raavan ki Kurbaan.” Karan, not one to shy away from a bitch-slap retaliated with a “@RGVzoomin...you have an amazing sense of humour ramu!! Never shows up in your films though.”
More recently, responding to Shobhaa De’s tirade against the recently released I Hate Luv Storys, Sonam Kapoor re-tweeted Punit Malhotra’s almost distasteful response, “RT @punitdmalhotra: Guys pls don’t take Shobha De seriously. She’s a fossil who’s getting no action and going through menopause.”
It’s certainly not just the desi stars who now use Twitter in their arsenal against rivals. Actress Demi Moore recently lashed out at reality-star Kim Kardashian for using the term ‘Big Pimpin’ on Twitter. The Indecent Proposal star wrote, “@KimKardashian No disrespect I love a girls night out but a pimp and pimping is nothing more than a slave owner!” The tweet generated a resounding response from her followers. As the celebs continue to dish it out and the fans continue to lap it up, some celebrity tweeters would rather take a step back to regroup for a minute.
Santoor player, Rahul Sharma says, “We are living in a crazy time when people use technology as a self promotional tool. It’s okay to be in touch with your fans and admirers, but updates like ‘I just had a bath’ or venting anger against someone on social networking forums is unacceptable. It’s not a very healthy practice. There are certain rules of ethics that every celebrity should follow on a public forum.”
“Popular artistes, whom the masses look up to and respect, should be careful about what they say and do,” model Pia Trivedi warns, “Fighting on Twitter is pretty juvenile. It’s good to have an opinion and discuss it on a forum like Twitter, but one should not cross the limit and a discussion should not take an ugly turn.”
With 38,000 followers and climbing, jewellery designer and celeb-tweeter Farah Khan Ali believes in a little diplomacy going a long way, “Twitter is a public platform. Celebs with many followers should carefully put forward their views without hurting sentiments. It’s not very wise to get personal because someday even they can be at the receiving end. When the My Name Is Khan Vs Sena controversy happened, even I tweeted my opinion and got many strong responses, but I was careful not to offend anybody through my tweets.”
Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar however believes that on a site that helps display one’s true colours, not everyone will come up in rainbows. “There’s a lot more to Twitter than just bitter fights. Conversations are more transparent: whatever we feel is there for everyone to see. We post our feelings when we are happy, sad, perplexed or in any other mood. I think it’s fabulous technology that helps connect on a personal basis. At least there is no confusion,” says Madhur.
Celebrity lensman and CMD Bling, Atul Kasbekar however believes that celebrities will be celebrities and Twitter is just another tool in their anti-rival demolition kit, “Some celebs have been at loggerheads for the longest time and have been slugging it out even before they got onto Twitter. It’s just another forum for them to vent anger. At least Twitter offers you the chance to say exactly what you want to say without any scope for misinterpretation and put forth your point of view.”