Exclusive – Divya Agarwal and Varun Sood on online trolling: Wishing death upon somebody is unacceptable

Reality TV couple Divya Agarwal and Varun Sood will soon be seen on TV with a brand new show ‘Ace the Quarantine’. The couple will be hosting the show from their home and give tasks to contestants. In an exclusive live chat with ETimes TV, Divya and Varun talk about their show, handling online trolls and more. By: Sukarna Mondal

Speaking about their new show, Divya said, “It is a 7-day show, everyday at 7pm.” Varun added, “The show’s concept is very new. It is about content creation and how difficult it is to create content. We call our contestants on the show ‘Entertainers’. They have to create content from the confines of their home and every day they have to come up with new video. Winner will also be selected by the audience.”

Divya says, “We have been watching content since the ‘vines’ days. The ideas are same and it is the way how you present it. The dialogues, the inside story is different. In our show, we are extremely surprised that our ‘Entertainers’ have created such good content from their home during the lockdown when most of the things are not available.” Varun joins, “Most of the content creators are very different and they have different style.”

Divya and Varun shot their part from their home and when asked how did they manage to do so, Divya replied, “We would pull each other’s legs a lot and mostly Varun would do that. I would get angry and we will argue for 5 mins and then Varun would apologise and that’s it.” Varun shares, “One thing which I have learnt is Divya is always on time. She will wake up, take a bath, do her make-up and she is never late. Earlier, I would just wake up before the shoot.” Divya said, “During the lockdown, we would shoot at 9am and it would be too early. Most of the times you will find Varun with a cap on and sleepy eyes in the shoot and suddenly after a few hours he would be all energetic. That’s when Varun would wake up.”

“It was quite difficult as well. We had to make sure that lighting and sound is good. Now I know how hard the crew members work. My respect for them has increased. I am more appreciative of many things and in awe of people behind the camera. I have become more patient in life,” said Varun. Divya adds, “When we are working face-to-face, things happen fast. But while shooting from home there are many things which happen to and fro. The entire team is involved till late night, exchanging messages and all. But yes, we have learnt a lot during the entire process. And also so many people made their TV debut. So many moms and family members of the Entertainers made debut. It is a nice and positive show.”

Divya has fallen prey to online trolls many times and she has also called them out earlier. Speaking more about handling online trolls, Divya shared, “Varun has been very supportive. At times he would get more hyper than me, he would say, ‘How can one say that. Let me talk to him/her’. He would get very concerned. Every human reacts in a different way. It is not always that people will agree with my statements. I am also very cool about it. What I am not cool about is their language and it is very bad. The way they talk and taunt people who they have not even met. If people says, ‘Divya is not good here’. Ok I will accept it. I cannot be the best person always. But if you abuse and try to pull me down and involve my family, I won’t take it. E.g If suppose Varun and I had a fight and Varun is right and I am wrong, people will pounce at me so much that even before I realise what is right and wrong, they will abuse you. You will automatically feel like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t wanna live any more.”

Varun shares, “I feel criticism is one thing and trolling is one thing. Like if someone says, ‘Tu aisa kyu hai, tu marr kyu nahi jata’. I have literally got such messages. Wishing death upon somebody is unacceptable. And if you retaliate, they will say, ‘Aap aise kaise baat kar rahe ho’. So the entire thing is you are wishing death upon somebody and then you are ok about it. How can you be so hateful about somebody you haven’t even met. People need to understand what trolling is and how it affects a person. Trolling should stop. Healthy criticism is ok.” Divya adds here, “People call me vocal and say ‘Tu toh bol deti hai aur hum bhi bolenge’. But I say things which won’t affect people. And I have also learnt this, it’s not something I have known for years. I have studied social media, behaviour, respect people and my audience. We have certain responsibilities towards our audience. And we want even if our Indian audience becomes responsible, things will be better.”

Divya starts saying, “I have learnt that no matter what the situation is if I am calm and make my people around me feel calm, then things will be a lot better. I have also learnt interior designing.” Boyfriend Varun joins, “Divya is right. At times I would worry and get paranoid that work is not happening and something is stuck. Divya would say, ‘Don’t worry, things will happen. Right now, the entire world is on a hold.’ Divya has made me a calm person.”

Varun shares, “I shot for 300 days in 2019. And I didn’t want to miss anything this year. I realised I love being on camera. Hence, I thought of creating content from home. I didn’t want to get out of that life. I have been doing all this to keep myself happy.” “From Varun, I have learnt on how to maintain the profile when it comes to social media. I am not that kind of person, who would be like, see this or see that. I am on social media only to stay connected with my people and participate in what’s happening. This lockdown, I wanted to give all my time to my people and family. It has been a happy lockdown for me.”