India, April 5 -- The fascination with the personal lives of celebrities is a revealing window into the human condition-our desires, insecurities, aspirations, and, not infrequently, our latent schadenfreude. In India, as elsewhere, this preoccupation has assumed proportions that often blur the boundary between legitimate curiosity and unwarranted intrusion.

At its most benign, the interest in the private lives of public figures stems from an ancient impulse: the urge to know those we admire more intimately. Today, whether it is Shah Rukh Khan, Virat Kohli, Taylor Swift, Rahul Gandhi, or Narendra Modi, their public achievements invite a natural curiosity about the person behind the persona. How do they live? What do they feel? Are their ...