Tag: nepotism in bollywood

BOLLYWOOD: NOT SO GLAMOROUS INDUSTRY

“Bollywood” lately has always been making headlines but this time for a change the news is not so heartwarming. Bollywood is India’s biggest film industry which has always caught the attention of millions of people who are or were planning to make their career in acting. The glamour world looks beautiful from the outside with new fashion trends, expensive lifestyle, etc.


However, the year 2020 which was a lot unpredictable witnessed the unfortunate demise of one the actor, Mr. Sushant Singh Rajput which has raised various enigmas regarding the functioning and clarity of this captivating world. The death talented actor has showcased the reality of Bollywood and has created a stir amongst the entire audience. Although, Bollywood actors who made it big with their hard work and dedication had previously mentioned ‘Nepotism’ as a hindrance in their path of success and did not get a proper chance to prove their abilities and skills were always taken as a joke and it is very much upsetting to see the facts that it costed the life of a remarkably skilled young actor for the public to consider this subject thoughtfully.


It has made the audience to recognize the fact that it is them who has the power, it is they who has raised them to stardom, and now it’s the audience have to chance and reason to choose what is right and the outrage of the public was much apparent in their response to the movie trailer of a popular personality as well as in the social media platforms against the product of nepotism with trending tweets like boycott Bollywood and famous actors and producer. This high profile stars almost rules this industry and who believes in “Monarchy”. Indian especially the Hindi film industry which actually should have been the platform to give an unbiased chance to showcase the capability of the nation, a stage were people with talent and interest had a chance to build their career is now almost over with this ugly truth coming into the forefront”. Being one of the most Prominent cinema industries rather than impacting the lives of millions of souls positively has on the contrast wrecked and shattered the dreams of people.

The time has come it’s not the actors or producers who have the power over Bollywood, we the audience have the power for it. The actors leading a life wearing masks are fake in real life. Even animals care for their kind but humans are just selfish and Bollywood has proven it with a hard-hitting reality. We have to choose who should shine and who should not and it’s high time, we need to make the right choice for the betterment for our future generation, and Let’s give the young talents a fair chance and bring back the glory of the industry along with the nation. This is the least we can do for SSR a tribute to him and let him live in our hearts and let’s not do a mistake again.

Nepotism In India

In India Corruption goes hand in hand with nepotism. It goes on in government and private jobs both. Nepotism is common in politics, judiciary, and business and in the film industry. It goes on even in religious circles, arts, industry, and other types of organisations. Many members of Parliament and various Legislative Assemblies have a generations-long legacy of nepotism allocation of constituencies to their relatives. Many judges and advocates of the High courts and the Supreme Court are alleged to be appointed by exercising casteism, nepotism and favouritism, primarily because the Supreme Court and the High Court’s uses a non-transparent undemocratic appointment process called Collegiate which recommends to the President, in a legally binding manner, the names of judges to be appointed or promoted to the higher judiciary. The various judicial services exams are also infamous for these practices. The Bajaj family is related to the Birla family which itself is related to the Biyani family by marriage. Moreover, dynasty in politics remains. Rahul Gandhi, Vice-President of the Indian National Congress party, is a descendent of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi. Data shows since 1999, the Congress has had 36 dynastic MPs elected to the Lok Sabha, with the BJP not far behind with 31 dynastic MPs. The highly popular sport of cricket is also affected with nepotism, although to a lesser extent, in the form of Stuart Binny, Rohan Gavaskar and very recently Arjun Tendulkar. Home minister Amit Shah’s son was appointed as the BCCI secretary.

Growing nepotism in the Indian film industry (Bollywood)

The Kapoor families and many other Indian film actors have been known for bringing their children into the industry with their endorsements and influence for decades. However, a fresh debate on nepotism soon followed the untimely demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, investigations into which have pointed to professional rivalry and instances of “bullying”. As per media reports, he was ostracized by the film fraternity despite being an accomplished actor. Filmmaker Karan Johar, with whom Rajput had worked in the Netflix film Drive, was quickly hailed as the flagbearer of nepotism by actress Kangana Ranaut, with Rajput’s fans calling for a boycott of Johar and his banner, Dharma Productions, as well as of actor Salman Khan and his brothers, who were greatly accused of bullying outsiders in the past. Actors and actresses like Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, Ananya Pandey, Athiya Shetty, Tiger Shroff, Arjun Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, all of whom hail from film families, were also widely criticized for their mediocre filmography and quickly lost millions of social media fans and followers within a week. Responding to allegations of nepotism against her, Sonam Kapoor sparked controversy with a tweet on Father’s Day, with trolls calling her out for delivering poor films in the past few years.

In recent weeks, nepotism has become centre stage in mainstream public discourse. Triggered by speculations over the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the debate was initially confined to the film industry. But it has since spread to other domains. What began as a hashtag about a tragic death has acquired a life of its own. How do we understand this sudden upsurge, given that nepotism is not a new phenomenon?

In India, whichever field one may consider, there is no denying the prevalence of influential families that wield nepotistic influence. But does this mean we make peace with nepotism? Certainly not. But a lot depends on how the debate is framed, and the nature of the contingent politics around the nepotism discourse.