Sara Ali Khan Pushes Staff Into Pool: Laughing At Cost Of Someone’s Distress?

Apart from bad rhymes and frightful poetry, Sara Ali Khan has other talents too it seems. The 26-year-old recently shared a video on social media from when she 'pranked' a member of her crew, in response to a fan's question about the worst one she had pulled on someone. The so-called prank has only earned the young actor a lot of flak.

The clip, now viral, shows Khan posing with her spot girl Jharu by a poolside and then in a quick movement, pushing the unsuspecting woman into the water. Khan, dressed in a bikini and looking all pool-ready herself, jumps in after the spot girl. She is heard cackling to her heart's content while the disoriented woman tries to make sense of what exactly happened.

It is safe to say that the internet has warped our collective sense of what constitutes fun. One look at the challenges that inundate platforms like TikTok and Instagram is enough evidence. Greater the danger, greater the popularity.

Pushing someone off guard into a body of water - even if in the shallow end - can turn so hazardous so fast. What would it do to an aquaphobe, for instance? What if, in the few seconds it takes for one to lose control in water, rescue arrives late? How funny is it really, causing someone distress?

It truly was the worst prank. Khan got that much right.

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Sara Ali Khan Pool Prank Video: Laughing at the cost of someone's distress isn't cool

Many netizens too failed to see the humour in all this. "That wasn’t cool!!!" one user commented under the video of Khan reposted by Filmfare on Instagram. "How or why is that so funny?" another comment read. "She threw her vry inappropriate way.. Anything can happen in name of prank.. How much Insensible she is!" a user wrote.

Meanwhile, some others were a bit more defensive about the so-called prank. "None of us know their equation. All we do is comment. Sigh," one user wrote. "Not a fan but don’t know why people are getting offended on this," another wrote.

More than outrage or offence-taking, however, the video invokes upset. Khan and her staff may share a good rapport and who is to tell, the woman may not have minded the prank. But even if such a gag was pulled on a friend, with whom the equation shared allows for ample leg-pulling, its perils would remain constant.

Is India's infamous 'chalta hai' attitude being legitimised by the internet culture that thrives on eyeball-grabbing through just about anything that has enough shock value?

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A string of worrying TikTok trends rampant across the United States in recent years has gone so far past propriety that the medical and law-order authorities have been urged to step in. One such challenge required takers to hold their breath until they passed out; it reportedly resulted in the death of a ten-year-old girl last year.

In another horrible dare that many youths allegedly took last year, teachers were being slapped by their students, just for laughs. A disabled teacher in Louisiana was allegedly attacked and pushed out of her wheelchair in an incident that police believed was linked to the trend. TikTok dissociated itself with the 'slap a teacher' challenge and warned of action if such content was posted to their platform.

But will supervisory notices prevent the youth from attempting tricks in their personal territories? Who can mandate what qualifies as a prank and what doesn't? Pushing someone into water, slapping someone and running away, calling someone names, all in the name of humour: can anyone sermonise on when to laugh, when to not?

Are these not lines we ourselves will have to draw? The responsibility and accountability of our conduct lies in our own hands.

Views expressed are the author's own.