SPEAKING OUT: (From top) A grab of Aamir Khan’s blog; Amitabh Bachchan and Sudhir Mishra

Did you get your daily dose of regular updates from the new kids on the blog? Have you managed to read a few lines of the bickering that is going on in celebrity blogs? If not, then please do, for the war of the blogs is on — and it’s getting better with every passing day with Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, two stalwarts of Bollywood, making it clear that no matter what, they will blog dil se.

And why not, for blogging is no longer the exclusive preserve of writers, journalists or techno-savvy geeks. Celebrities have jumped on this bandwagon too. They are cleverly using it to promote their upcoming movies, to take a dig at someone or to make their stand clear. From producer Pritish Nandy to film-makers Kunal Kohli, Sudhir Mishra, Vivek Sharma, Anurag Kashyap, Milan Luthra and Ram Gopal Varma, not to mention biggies like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, they are all making their presence felt in blogosphere.

Says Aamir Khan, “I started my blog to promote the Lagaan DVD. But I soon got hooked to it and started enjoying the experience of writing a blog. I post everything that happens in my life and around me.”

Blogs have been used to promote films since 2005 when film-maker Prakash Jha wrote a blog to promote his film Apaharan. Its entire star cast — Ajay Devgan, Bipasha Basu and Nana Patekar — blogged for a certain period of time. Indeed, most Bollywood bigwigs who are blogging regularly have a film slated for release in the near future. For instance, film-maker Kohli who has just begun to blog has Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic slated for release later this year. He states in his blog: “This blog is not going to be a promotional blog for my forthcoming film.”

Of course, celebrity bloggers rarely admit that they are using the medium for publicity. They all maintain that they are writing a blog to get connected with their fans. Khoya Khoya Chand director Sudhir Mishra maintains that his blog is all about connecting with people. He says, “I blog once a month, only to write long pieces related to film-making. It’s a way of connecting to the world beyond Bollywood, where people interested in my line of work exist. The comments that I get on the blog help me grow. Unlike certain people, I do not use it to state my stand or to make personal attacks.”

Well, some are clearly doing just that. Amitabh Bachchan, for instance, has posted the ratings of Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 1 and 3 to show how the KBC presided over by him compared with the one presided over by Shah Rukh Khan. Needless to say, the latter had a much lower viewership rating, which is what Big B wanted to convey. Aamir Khan has used his blog to take pot shots at Shah Rukh Khan and had earlier also criticised the Bachchan-starrer Black for being insensitive in parts.

But others insist that blogs are a way of merely expressing themselves. Producer Pritish Nandy feels that blogs give him a certain freedom of expression. He says, “I write blogs to interact with people around me and also with people who would like to interact with me. But I would never misuse the platform.”

Some wouldn’t call it misuse. They would just call it setting the record straight. Says columnist and writer Anil Dharker, “It’s pretty easy to settle scores by blogging. For the very essence of blogging is to express one’s thoughts on various issues. Amitabh Bachchan, for example, may be seeing it as a way of clearing the misconceptions about him.”

There are those who doubt if the star blogs are genuine, that is, if they are written by the stars themselves. Says Kiruba Shankar, CEO, Business Blogging Pvt. Ltd, Chennai, “You never know if it’s they who are actually blogging. They could be passing the brief to others who are more than willing to blog on the stars’ behalf.”

Shankar may be right. Vivek Sharma, director of Bhoothnath, admits that his blog is “ghost-blogged.” He says, “I don’t have the time to update my Buzz18 blog. Someone from the website comes to my house, takes the brief and then uploads it. That is how the blogs related to the making of Bhoothnath were written.”

But whether stars write blogs in person or have them ghost-written, there is no doubt that the websites that host their blogs have seen a huge increase in the number of hits. For example, bigadda.com, a social networking site where Bachchan blogs, now gets thousands of hits a day. So has the Big B sought an endorsement fee from bigadda? Says Amiy Roy, head, marketing, bigadda.com, “Amitabh Bachchan is not endorsing bigadda.com. He’s just chosen this platform over others. But yes, by choosing this platform Mr Bachchan has given it an extra edge and visibility.”

Stars endorsing websites may still be some time away. But the fact remains that celebrity blogging seems to be here to stay. “A blog is an unending chain of communication. If used strategically it will help them become icons,” says Shankar.

Yes, but only if they can prevent themselves from lashing out at each other. Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, are you listening?