The actor’s death is making people talk about mental health issues. The renewed ‘visibility’ he’s brought to this topic may be his lasting legacy.
Our cinema coverage is so omnipresent — even more so in this digital age — that the movies matter beyond their ability to entertain us. Millions of people battle dyslexia, but the condition remains known only to the immediate family, maybe a neighbour or two. But when Aamir Khan makes a moving drama about it, it becomes a national talking point. Articles are written about it. Doctors opine on it. And even if we don’t come home right away and write out a cheque to the Dyslexia Association of India, we at least know there is such a thing and this is how it manifests itself and this is what you should do. Deepika Padukone’s depression isn’t any more special than the depression experienced by the woman who lives next door, but because Deepika Padukone gets written about (and the woman who lives next door doesn’t), a larger chunk of the population is able to put a face to the condition. Okay, maybe it’s really a thing…
Read the rest of this article here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/bollywood-features/sushant-singh-rajput-he-lived-the-dream-but-he-also-seems-to-have-paid-a-price-baradwaj-rangan/
Copyright ©2020 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
ravenus1
June 15, 2020
Thanks for this sensitive piece BR. Sushant’s is a death that is going to lead to a lot of speculation since he didn’t have the obvious signs (career not happening, major relationship breakdown) usually attributed to suicides. He came as an outsider and through innate talent and immense hard work made his place in the industry to the extent projects were being written for him. It is always tragic when a life is snuffed out like that…or in this case chooses to snuff itself out.
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Madan
June 15, 2020
Beautiful piece. SS was an academically brilliant person who dropped it all to follow his passion and also appears to have had the capacity to act on his empathy beyond empathetic tweets.
And it is in this context that I find Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh’s pathological need to be able to say, “I told you so” very disturbing. Well, if you noticed a glazed look or whatever, did you take him aside and ask? Or did you just ghost him and crush his hopes some more? Let’s hear it.
A friend of mine said this about the unseemly psychological autopsy in progress in the media: “The amazing media circus around Sushant Singh Rajput’s death is like watching hyenas pick carrion left behind by a lion”.
My reply to him: “Times when Rest in Peace becomes a deeply ironic expression. Marne ke baad toh usko shanti so jaane do. Why do I remember that Page 3 scene now?”
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Vishnu
June 15, 2020
You were forced to write a lot of mourning pieces recently. Wish this is the last one
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abishekspeare
June 15, 2020
“The actor’s death is making people talk about mental health issues”
I really do hope that we as a society realize the seriousness of mental illness. Half the memes in social media are about ‘my depressed ass’. This makes depression a ‘cool thing’ to have. Even now I’m seeing news channels telecast SSR’s video strips with sad music in the background, people commenting “guys follow my account if you want private talks” on posts that mourn his death. I’m no one to judge others, but i sincerely wish we become kinder humans, all of us.
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KS
June 15, 2020
As someone who has struggled with and suffered from psychiatric issues, I have a lot of thoughts on this. But I’ll just say one thing: its a very tricky self-perpetrating problem with no easy solution. Let me illustrate based on personal experience.
There is something disturbingly circular about mental illness in that often one of the symptoms of the problem is the lack of realization of or refusal to acknowledge its existence. After all, if you hurt some other part of your body, its your brain that recognizes the problem and ensures you get help. But if the problem is in your brain, things get complicated with feedback loops.
Even if you yourself happen to notice the mess you’re in, its still a long way from recognizing it as a problem that needs external help. Maybe you’re just lazy, maybe you’re just growing jaded with people you meet, maybe losing the energy and spark is just a side effect of growing up, maybe everybody feels the same way inside and its not something worth fussing over like a baby. And the worst thing you can tell yourself is maybe this is just a temporary fluctuation and “From tomorrow morning, I’ll be a whole new different person”, and this tomorrow never comes ever. Such internal resistance to the idea that you may have a problem puts you on a dark spiral. By the time you are forced to accept the problem, the mess would have piled up too high, and you’ll be too confused as to where to even begin, and too guilty to bother anyone else over a mess of your own making. Its a vicious circle of normalizing and self-blame with no out. Soon the problem would be so overwhelming that you’ll just give up and go numb.
Numbness is a dark space. Its a passive apathetic state where nothing can bring you joy (or sorrow) and there is nothing to look forward to either. You’re just sleepwalking your way through and biding time. Any well-meaning general advise people give is entirely useless, since it fundamentally assumes that you’re still in control or want to do anything. I can’t relax, or snap out of it, or just talk to people, or get out more, or go on a refreshing break, or get more exercise, or drink green tea, or do yoga. I can’t lift myself up to do any of these things, and that is the whole problem.
The only solution to this is for a third party to get involved and do the thinking for the affected and help them navigate their way out of this quagmire. This is where it gets even more tricky. While on this spiral, you would have steadily weakened or severed your social connections. Your friends probably think you’re cold and not interested in talking anymore. So even after you realize you need help, there would be nobody you could take the liberty of reaching out and bothering. You feel too guilty about being a burden after all, and you feel really far away. The only people left to help you are parents or authority figures, but you’ll be too concerned about worrying or disappointing them, so thats also not an option. You can’t even cry for help.
So there is no solution to this. If you’re lucky, someone would break through all these barriers and notice you sinking. And drag you out to get help. Sadly that doesn’t always happen.
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Aman Basha
June 15, 2020
It’s a really unfortunate death with a lot of questions still hanging in the air. It also made me wonder where we are so blanketed by nepotism that we are naturally more accepting of khandaani kids than we should be. I say this after reading Shekar Kapur’s post which left me wondering that Ranbir Kapoor could have major train wrecks like Jagga Jasoos and Bombay Velvet and still get Brahmastra which also seems to be eternally delayed like the former two then why did Paani not get a chance?
Asides, your article is extremely sensitive and found Mukesh Bhatt’s reply very snobbish. Your obituaries convey the essence and legacy of a person beautifully. Pray that you need not write them anymore.
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mindbloggerman
June 15, 2020
To quote from the article- he said ” No matter what you do…just make sure you know your reasons”. And I believe he had his reasons. Let’s leave it at at that. Peace.
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abishekspeare
June 15, 2020
BR, I just saw the FC video on SSR:
It is a perfectly emotional video on its own, the excerpts that have been taken are really moving, but why have the melancholic music in the background? This is obviously a very minor creative issue but to me it’s all the difference between a genuine tribute and something that was DESIGNED to make you feel sad. It’s the equivalent of a movie where a message is said out loud instead of being shown. Of course this is my personal opinion. If it was some other channel, i wouldn’t have batted an eyelid, but FC has set itself a benchmark for providing top quality content.
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Anu Warrier
June 15, 2020
KS, my deepest sympathies. I know what it’s like to be on the outside looking in, wanting to help, and blundering in my responses. I have spent days, weeks, driving someone very close to me for hours at 2 and 3 in the morning, talking, talking, talking…. not even knowing what I was saying, and probably repeating everything six times around, and hoping against hope that something I was saying was getting through.
I can’t lift myself up to do any of these things, and that is the whole problem.
And it pains me that it took ages for me to understand that where my loved one was concerned. I kept on giving pep talks – which I’m sure now must have been irritating as hell, exhorting them to ‘just get up and go and do x,y, z’. I regret that very much.
I hope you are getting the help you need. I really hope you are. My best wishes.
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JPhil
June 15, 2020
To quote a friend when we heard : Oh,those nanoseconds…
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Goutham
June 15, 2020
KS: I agree with everything you said. The absolute truth.
With years of struggling with my mental health, my observation is that we are nothing more than hypocrites. We ask ourselves had he reached out, I could have helped. But we never think of once to reach out to them to help. The lack of awareness to empathy makes the matters only worse. Even when we reach out, we are afraid of getting emotionally drained and then we decide to leave them alone in the darkness to save ourselves . The point is the path of recovery is very difficult and tiring for those around too. When friends and family see little to no progress after years of treatment, everybody gives up. The dwindling support system would ultimately lead to tragic end. Honestly we must ask ourselves are we really being nice to each other?
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sai16vicky
June 15, 2020
@Aman: I think the Bhatt family are the champions of hindsight. Mahesh Bhatt, in an interview with BR, said he knew Smita Patil would not live long.
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Aman Basha
June 15, 2020
Oh and a very strange family too, making films out of your personal life and details and then making this aspect of the film public affecting other people in the relationship. Seriously, what did Parveen Babi and Sushmita Sen, such stunning women, see in them as such? Only to be made fodder for their films. Arth might be a classic but it is still very wrong to do IMO.
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kaizokukeshav
June 15, 2020
SSR’s demise opens an emotional can of worms which is more than a natural response.
It’s very cold to non-chalantly say that some one (Mukesh Bhatt here) was already finding Sushant to follow suicidal path of life and do nothing about it.
This article is not a tribute, it reflects arrogance. It meant to say someone already predicated a death and yes they are correct now.
As an outsider, sympathising to current film industry circumstances is fine but what about the cut-throat politics behind the scenes ? Sushant has been mentioning that he doesn’t have a god-father for quite a while. If industry itself wants actors’ skills but not their well-being, then what are they fighting for in all these humanitarian causes every now and then ? Ye ‘Shoba nahi deta’.
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An Jo
June 15, 2020
I feel we are again resorting to the ‘reversal syndrome.’ Alia’s sister Shaheen suffered chronic depression for years. There is no way Alia could be as ‘insensitive’ to SSR. Mahesh Bhatt went to Osho and Krishnamurthy. I feel the social are unfairly blaming Alia.
KJO: I think he is NOT capable of ‘ruining’ someone’s career: However much I despise him, I still don’t believe he is capable of this. Come on, he himself has been the subject of numerous jokes regarding his sexuality. Yes, he would definitely prefer to be within his ‘circle.’ That I agree.
For God’s sakes, Mahesh was associated with Parveen Babi!!
Mahesh on his experience with Krishnamurthy
Shaheen on her experience
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Satya
June 16, 2020
Death is always on the corner. Everyday is death in progress (cool line, isn’t it? should thank BR for his recent coloun). If some celebrity this young dies naturally due to some health issue, the response would be far muted. But this one, a suicide, has triggered many of us to acknowledge poor mental health awareness and education in our country. At least for now.
Meanwhile there is this minor community that notes, and even points out, that Sushant acted in a film that opposed suicide as an option and he embraced it irl. Really? Just because an actor kicks the butts of some 25 odd people on a film, do you think he/she’ll do similar things when a conflict happens irl? Or will we stop watching their films just because they are not what they are on-screen? This kind of ‘preying’ and ‘judging’ is quite insensitive.
I lost someone really close to me, and even today, this dialogue in BBC Sherlock’s “The Lying Detective” hurts like a sting:
“Taking your own life. Interesting expression – taking it from who? Once it’s over, it’s not you who’ll miss it. Your own death is something that happens to everybody else. Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it.”
Background: Sherlock has some sort of PTSD and is on self-destructive substance abuse. He is dying. He knows fully what drugs are capable of, he knows what way his system can be damaged and yet, Sherlock goes on. But when his suicidal client carries a gun in her handbag, he ‘accepts’ that as a fee and throws it in the Thames before delivering those lines to her.
Though all knew that Sherlock isn’t a madman to go rogue this way through fatal and intentional substance abuse (for anyone who read the original story from the canon, this would be an easy guess), they expressed displeasure towards this contradictory behaviour. Now, in real life, a real celebrity did something which was against the one his character in a film had preached, and people pointing it out should not sound very surprising.
Not surprising, but definitely insensitive.
I am sorry if I sound rude and kind of vague but, I could not be more polite in expressing my thoughts. Some events rake up hidden traumas and we can’t help it.
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brangan
June 16, 2020
Thank you all for sharing, and I wish to put forth one point based on personal experience:
When you are in a “black mood”, you do not want to speak to anyone. So all those well-intentioned twitter urgings of “call people, keep in touch” are good — but for “normal times”. Once the mind enters this black zone, you do not pick up calls, especially when they are close people (because you know what they are going to say, and what they are trying to do, i.e. distract you from your ‘black’-ness and trying to be casual about it though you can see through it all).
It’s a very self-sabotaging zone, this black zone. Self-awareness and medication are the things to get through it — and it’s a VERY long process. It’s also a very personal process, because one tends to push away the people who are closest.
I’m not generalising this scenario for ALL mental health conditions, obviously. Just for one TYPE… where all this well-meaning “just pick up the phone and talk to X or Y” is utterly useless.
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brangan
June 16, 2020
“The debate on nepotism has gone on for so long because there is a dissonance between how we are as human beings and how we perceive ourselves to be.”
This comment was earlier in this thread:
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brangan
June 16, 2020
Saif slams Bollywood, and also says this:
“We will all assume that this terrible thing happened to him because of his films. There is more to life. Maybe he was upset about other things in his life. Maybe it was a personal reason. Maybe it’s nothing to do with films. If you can’t see beyond that, you will put everything on that – the movies you do.”
https://www.desimartini.com/news/htcity/entertainment/saif-ali-khan-slams-bollywoods-sudden-love-for-sushant-singh-rajput-calls-it-ultimate-hypocrisy-article146923.htm
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brangan
June 16, 2020
Abhinav Kashyap’s text:
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Aman Basha
June 16, 2020
This is getting worse day by day; it’s impossible to talk about his unfortunate passing without getting into all the debates, discussions and accusations regarding the circumstances of his passing. Frightening that a young talented actor who left us too soon would be fresh fodder to a never ending debate about Bollywood and its unfairness and possibly be remembered only for that and not his talent or work.
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Madan
June 16, 2020
Battle lines being drawn. The ‘outsider set’ consolidating against the Khandaans over this. They definitely won’t let SSR rest in peace at this rate. Can’t say I blame the outsiders for this. We have not heard from SSR’s parents or other loved ones (or have we) that he had depression. A prescription and a few medicines can easily be a set up. Why was media in such a hurry to spread these rumours? By all means have a discussion on depression but not as a cover up for something more sinister.
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Rajan
June 16, 2020
Lot of this is based on hearsay and leaks..but its one thing to distribute opportunities among your own family and friends, but its completely different when a concerted effort is made to destroy someone’s opportunities.
Maybe the battle lines being drawn for industry’s “OUTSIDERS LIVES MATTER” moment
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krishramavajula
June 16, 2020
BR and everyone, I think you would want to watch this
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Anu Warrier
June 17, 2020
I don’t think it was hearsay that he was clinically depressed. The cops have at least found different prescriptions by different doctors in his flat. (He seems to have changed his doctors quite frequently.)
The reasons for his suicide can be debated until Kingdom come. Because he didn’t leave a suicide note. I shudder to think of his poor father and the rest of his family who have to face a barrage of intrusive rudeness into their grief. All these debates and anger and social media trolling will not bring their son and brother back.
Shekhar Kapur is on record as saying that YRF pulled the plug on his dream venture Paani because they didn’t want to make it with Sushant. But that just seems so weird – he was a YRF hero – didn’t he do Shudh Desi Romance with them?
I honestly think that people are firing off a dead man’s shoulders for their own benefit at this point. Some of the rabid posts are, frankly, disturbing.
Also, I read Abhinav Kashyap’s post – colour me gobsmacked. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.
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Anu Warrier
June 17, 2020
BR, sorry you went through that, and hope you are well rid of it, or at least, in control of it.
And oh, how familiar it all sounds. 😦
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brangan
June 17, 2020
And now, RGV weighs in. I wish he’d tempered his words and written something similar in a less sensationalistic way, but then… that’s him!
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/ram-gopal-varma-karan-johar-is-a-bigger-victim-in-this-context-compared-to-sushant-singh-rajput-also-says-without-nepotism-society-will-collapse/articleshow/76414455.cms
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Madan
June 17, 2020
“But that just seems so weird – he was a YRF hero – didn’t he do Shudh Desi Romance with them?” – It seems to be more like this, that they may have decided Paani is not going to work out and pulled the plug out. And THEN, it seems Adi Chopra offered Befikre to SSR and he didn’t like the script and turned it down after which Adi took a very tough stand against him and, as per the allegation, goaded Dharma Productions to follow suit in ‘blacklisting’ him.
We don’t know if he really was blacklisted in the way the tweets claim. What do we know is after Chichore, the only film of his that was slated for release (before covid interruption) was Dil Bechara and it’s not like he had a bunch of films under the works either. There was something afoot. What it is we will never come to know.
I don’t HAVE to find out, I am not among his kith and kin, never knew him personally, like most other participants in this thread. But I am not going to accept the outcome of shoddy investigation or incomplete information as the final, official version. No details barring extremely sketchy ones emerged about Sridevi’s death either. There is no smoke without fire and if KJ and co feel upset about the social media tongue lashing they receive, maybe they shouldn’t have been so defensive about nepotism in the first place and, secondly, should have introduced auditions for script-backed films as the standard. Some directors already do this but Dharma & co don’t like this and would like to be able to run the film industry the exact way it used to be run for a long time.
I say this as a Bombayite: it’s high time the film industry moves out of Mumbai to elsewhere where dreams can truly be turned to reality rather than only fulfilling the star sons and daughters’ dreams of delivering hits with mediocre performances. Already, many successful ‘Bollywood’ films are already not set in Mumbai. Only the capital needs to follow suit. I know many here will not agree with this proposition but ask why even Tamil cinema with its deep politics-cinema nexus is not so incestuous as Bollywood is. It’s like almost anyone on the outside of Bolly can see the pathology clearly except the ones inside pretending nothing is wrong with the way things are.
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Rahul
June 17, 2020
Man, still baffled that this is the same guy who made Satya. So talent is a matter of point of view? Since in the opinion of the parents their kids are the most talented so nepotism makes sense . Cool.
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brangan
June 17, 2020
Madan: BEFIKRE was RELEASED in 2016, which means SSR must have said no to it a year earlier. (The film was announced in September 2015, with Ranveer.)
Dharma Productions started DRIVE with SSR in March 2017. (Again, basic Googling.)
So this blacklist story sounds iffy.
The other thing that’s slightly problematic in this narrative is that SSR wasn’t really a huge “solo” star. DHONI was more about the MS Dhoni factor. (Meaning people came in droves because of the sportsman, first.) CHHICHHORE was an ensemble film.
All his other films have been either flops or middling performers. And yet, Ronnie Screwvala — who’s a big producer — okayed him for KEDARNATH, which means a lot in the industry given how “careful” Bollywood is when it comes to launching star kids.
I’m not denying that the real big-shot producers preferred their pet actors in favour of SSR — maybe they did. But finally, people can speculate all they want, but no one knows why SSR took this drastic step except… SSR.
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Madan
June 17, 2020
“I’m not denying that the real big-shot producers preferred their pet actors in favour of SSR — maybe they did. But finally, people can speculate all they want, but no one knows why SSR took this drastic step except… SSR.” – The only thing that raises a red flag is the depression story was out within hours of his death and before any of his kith and kin said anything to confirm it. It is possible he hadn’t told them he had depression but the question then is how did the media come to know of it so soon. Police saying his doctors confirmed it, but this is India, anybody will confirm anything for the right price.
I would hesitate to entertain the possibility that the story was planted if I hadn’t already seen before how a story of a suspicious death was quickly buried by the media. I cannot recall the name anymore because it’s more than a couple of years ago, but it was a talented pianist who had moved from Bangalore to Mumbai for opportunities. They claimed he had committed suicide and the backstory was very similar to SSR, blaming it on lifestyle and possible mental issues with allusions to his temperamental behaviour. But the word on the street was that it was murder being covered up as suicide. Midday suggested the police hadn’t confirmed suicide yet. But Midday was the only outlet that dared print this version. That is because Midday is a local newspaper and depends on local buyers for subscription, local businesses for advertising. It is less beholden to political clout than the national dailies or TV channels. But Midday cannot do the investigation by itself if the police won’t, so the matter died down anyway.
I cannot say definitively that SS’s death was not a suicide. But the very hasty attempt to build a depression narrative and the lack of a suicide note or other indications from prior social media posts by him are red flags to me. And that is where the matter is going to end because I don’t think anything more will come out of it.
It would be very easy for people to call me a conspiracy theorist for saying this, but this is a country where the biggest star has twice evaded arrest, both for poaching deer in broad daylight and then running over a hapless pavement dweller. Industry closed ranks to support him on both instances. In that light, I don’t find the stories about the control exerted by him and other powerful industry figures to be far fetched.
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Aman Basha
June 17, 2020
The social media backlash that has emerged against Bollywood “khaandaanis” after SSR’s demise also has its roots in the 2020 Filmfare Awards controversy. Award shows are always subjects of disputes and disagreements, but the choices in 2020 were way too hard to swallow. KJo has been receiving continuous flak for the relentless promotion of Ananya Pandey any and everywhere. He’s doing the same thing he did with Alia but Alia is extremely gifted and he got away with it. Why Alia, even Parineeti Chopra despite being related to Priyanka had to take a three year break and barely gets any good opportunities when initially, she was touted by even BR sir as the next big thing. Ayushmaan’s career was going nowhere when he was doing those YashRaj movies.
I agree with RGV’s intention and tweet that nepotism is a natural human tendency and the audience is canny enough to discern between the good and bad products of nepotism. What’s annoying is the attempt to seemingly clobber the audience into accepting them and this is what KJo is doing.
Even the whole Ananya Pandey and Siddhant Chaturvedi thing trended wildly on social media.
It is odd that none of our present stars with non filmi connections have made it with two of the biggest production houses in Bolly, YRF and Dharma. Odd because these production houses owe big to the star who SSR quoted widely as his inspiration and the only Khan with no family to back him.
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Doba
June 17, 2020
There are the sins of omission and the sins of commission. The former, I think, is the general snooty and snarky attitude Karan Johar, Sonam Kapoor and the likes have displayed towards the aam janta who try to break into Bollywood. Very horrible but not criminal. The latter, appears to be committed by the Salman Khan family who actively stop somebody, who displeases them in some way, from advancing in the industry. At least based on the letter Abhinav Kashyap has shared. Very scary!
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abishekspeare
June 17, 2020
Just like how when Deepike Padukone talks about depression and everyone starts talking about it, nepotism has been rampant in every corner of the society and we take note of it only when Bollywood comes into prominence. Do we get this angry when a politician X’s child gets to contest in an election? Cinema is the most powerful tool in India – both the medium and the stars. We NEED a Taare Zameen Par to talk about dyslexia to our parents. We NEED celebrities to talk about nepotism to slash it. This is too much dependence on cinema. For most Indians at least.
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Anu Warrier
June 17, 2020
Madan, that’s strange, considering Ayushman was also a YRF hero – if it weren’t for Dum Laga Ke Haisha, he would be nowhere today. (He did Bewaqoofiyaan for them earlier.) Yet, he hasn’t done a single YRF film after that.
Between Vicky Donor and Dum Laga Ke…, every film was a flop. If Adi Chopra wanted to blacklist him for refusing films with YRF (and he had a three-film clause), wouldn’t he have?
And as BR points out, Befikre released in 2016 and Drive produced by Dharma just released.
The clinical depression is something Sushant had spoken about in an interview. Whether that led to his suicide, I don’t know.
Also, while KJo and others are getting the flak – I think, unnecessarily – it seems only fair to point out that this is not a ‘Bollywood’ problem. Every film industry is incestuous – look at Malayalam, for instance. All of the new brigade – actors, directors, etc. are sons or daughters of people in the field. Dulquer, Fahadh, Prithiviraj, Vineeth, Kunchako Boban, Pranav, Keerthy, Utthara Unni, Nadia Moidu, Kanaka… the list goes on.
The Telugu Industry is one maze of inter-related families. So is Tamil, Kannada, practically any film industry anywhere.
(And I won’t remark about the nepotism in politics, the likes of which I’d never imagined playing out here.)
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Anu Warrier
June 17, 2020
P.S – His father has told the police that his son often felt depressed, but he didn’t know the cause.
And I really loved this tribute.
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/sonchiriya-director-abhishek-chaubey-on-sushant-singh-rajput-6461924/
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Srinivas R
June 17, 2020
BR, the link to niceboy blog was mind blowing. It’s something I am likely to revisit a lot.
I also wonder about the star kids, they are going to be judged every inch of their way. Their small mistakes will be ridiculed. I cant imagine letting my kid out like that to the world. So, yes they start from a position of advantage but it comes with it’s own problems.
Also, movie making is a business, if I ran a business and I had to chose between my kid and an extremely talented employee to take over the business, 9 out of 10, I am going to chose my kid. isn’t that sense of selfishness that is natural, a sense of “my own” that is impossible to avoid. Films are business and businessmen will promote their own.I am not saying it’s right, but I don’t think it will end.
As comments mentioned, Sushant’s unfortunate demise is just a fodder for people to further their agendas. That Kangana rant video was basically a audio visual representation of hypocrisy.
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Anu Warrier
June 17, 2020
BR, thanks for that link to the niceboy blog. I agree with a lot of what he (?) says, and wish I could really have a face-to-face discussion about this.
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kaizokukeshav
June 17, 2020
I am sure RGV is at his satirical best on nepotism with this tweet
“How politicians like Mulayam,Uddhav etc give sons, relatives first preference ,Like how Dhirubhai will give all his monies to Mukesh ,Anil ,Like how all families will give their own families first preference similarly Bollywood families do same ..So where’s nepotism not there ?”
Kind of reminds me a scene from Upendra’s Super on Indian complacency (no title-just hand symbol)
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Kay
June 17, 2020
Looks like he also managed this Twitter account in which he has given book recommendations. It’s really sad that we get to know so much about him only when it’s too late.
https://mobile.twitter.com/intoxillectual?s=09
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Doba
June 17, 2020
Dear Anu,
This one time, I don’t agree with you.
Products of nepotism are not everywhere. It is just that in some fields (like movies and politics) it is easier to exercise it than others. For example, in elite sports, you cant survive by it. No matter how great Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and the William sisters are, and no matter what advantages in terms of genes and money they bestow upon their kids – their kids will get into the top 100 or so only on their own terms. That is why a Saif Ali Khan and Sara Ali Khan follow Sharmila Tagore’s foot steps and not Pataudi. Anybody in other fields who says that they work as hard as these sportsmen is kidding.
The same is true for so many other fields like science and fine arts – basically wherever individual talent or mediocrity cannot be hidden in some group effort or PR campaigns.
It is true that nepotism is prevalent in other film industries. But that’s no excuse. The power structures are even more lop sided and there are even fewer “successful outsiders” around to question it. The star system is even more strongly entrenched and their home media have been servile. But, I think it is a matter of time before it comes up.
In Hindi films, you could say that the talent (or lack thereof) of say a Sara Ali Khan is evident to all through her movies. But in the lockdown times, the only constant on our front pages, besides the uptick in the Covid numbers and the tragedies of the migrants, were regular updates on the life and times of Sara Ali Khan and Alia Bhatt. It seemed like somebody is constantly parked outside their houses even during the lockdown. So you begin to wonder, if these are the only folks who can pay for PR during these times when money is short for everyone. So its not just talent in the movies. Its the entire package of social influencing through a hundred different channels besides the movies.
And its financially lucrative, for them, mind you. I am fairly sure of it. Otherwise, why does every star kid, who loves the movies, want to become an actor or director? Why not writer, editor, cinematographer or pursue theatre if they love acting so much? They know, as everyone else, that the film star is at the top of the social pyramid and want to get there.
It is not wrong for them to want to be there. But there was a singular lack of grace, of humility and of self awareness among the lot when the debate began. And that impression of tone deafness and sense of entitlement has stuck with some. I remember when the discussion of casting couch came up – it was treated as a joke. Of course, the casting couch doesn’t affect the star kids. Its the outsiders who have to go through with it. Like I said, its one thing to promote your own (which is short sighted and not great for the industry but fine from a legal point of view). Its quite another to actively discourage outsiders by making the industry dangerous for them. The latter has to be challenged in all spheres.
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phaneendra201
June 18, 2020
We wanted to be on this end or another. Some people are pretty sure that reason is boycott and some people are pretty sure that reason is depression. We don’t know the truth and perhaps it might not come out.
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Anu Warrier
June 18, 2020
@Doba – I’m not excusing it. I agree that it doesn’t work across all fields. Frankly, it won’t work in films either. Yes, they get chances but where are Tushar Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol, Suraj Pancholi, et al now? As for the papparazzi parked outside Sara Ali Khan’s or Alia’s house, again, honestly, they don’t need PR to pay for it. Their names sell. Little Taimur Ali Khan’s pictures reportedly are offered premium price. Why?
Another thing – nepotism might not take sports stars’ kids or scientists’ kids very far in their parents’ fields. But is that all nepotism is? Limited to the fields of their parents? Are you telling me their family privilege doesn’t open doors for them that others in those fields, more talented, don’t even get to see?
Federer’s son can walk into any sports manufacturer’s office (for example) that he wants based on his father’s endorsements, with just a basic degree. Do you think a random undergrad can? The Williams’ name will take their children wherever they want to go. (Or not. They are Black. But that’s a different argument.)
Nepotism exists everywhere. Let me ask you – who hyped Sara Ali Khan up even before she entered films? Now you [general you] want to tear her down because she’s successful? SRK made it without any backing whatsoever. Now he’s successful, people will pull Aryan Khan down because, film school notwithstanding, his debut as director (which, apparently, is what he wants to be) will be easier than most because of who his father is.
So what’s he to do? Pretend NOT to be his father’s son? So he can level the playing field?
As for ‘Why don’t they do theatre?” One, it doesn’t pay very well, as most theatre artistes tell you. And two, doesn’t that hold good for ‘outsiders’ as well? If they are all there for the love of the art, why aren’t they going in for theatre? Why aren’t they trying to be writers, directors, camera men? A lot of them go from film to theatre. Many come from theatre to films – SRK, Irffan, Manoj, Ayushman… the list is endless. Why? Why couldn’t they all have been happy with theatre? Because films have a hold on popular imagination. Everyone (mostly) would rather be in films. There’s more visibility there.
Once again, I’m NOT defending the status quo. Madan said that the politics-film nexus in Tamil moviedom wasn’t as toxic as that of Bollywood – I just pointed out that Tamil filmdom also thrives on nepotism. Everyone is related. This is not a Bollywood issue. It’s an every -wood issue.
Secondly, outsiders soon become ‘insiders’. Amitabh was an outsider; today, Abhishek is considered a product of nepotism. SRK was an outsider – Aryan or Suhana are products of nepotism. Kangana is an outsider; so is Ayushman, Priyanka, Deepika, Anushka, Rajkumar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Swara Bhaskar, Radhika Apte, Radhika Madan – when their children choose to enter the same field, won’t they be products of nepotism?
I don’t know what the answer is; but I don’t agree with you that nepotism isn’t there anywhere else. It is all-pervasive. Only, outside the world of cinema, we call it ‘networking’ or ‘the old boys’ network’. And most people screaming themselves hoarse about ‘nepotism’ won’t think twice before picking up the phone to call their pal who’s the VP or director of a company to pass on their children’s resume.
basically wherever individual talent or mediocrity cannot be hidden in some group effort or PR campaigns.
Also, don’t agree with this either. Their lack of talent or mediocrity may not be hidden but they still get their opportunities that ‘lesser’ others don’t. Forgive me my cynicism, but I see the examples in the White House.
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Madan
June 18, 2020
“considering Ayushman was also a YRF hero – if it weren’t for Dum Laga Ke Haisha” – Sorry but that’s a reach. Yes, DLKH came in at a timely juncture for him but he is NOT a YRF hero. His breakout film was his debut Vicky Donor. And Bewakoofiyan and DLKH are the only two YRF films he has been a part of. His many other hits be it Badhai Ho, Bala, Andhadhun have not been YRF films. So he is most definitely not a YRF hero.
As for nepotism in other industries, I can only speak about the Tamil film industry. While star/politician sons do get roles including Ilayathalapathy himself, there are more actors who make it on their own than in Bollywood. Arya, Sivakarthikeyan, Santhanam were not golden sons, nor is Vijay Sethupathy. Even Jeyam is only the son of an editor which is more akin to how Ajay Devgun came in, not remotely comparable to a mediocre Arjun Kapoor being handed roles on a platter.
And this is where nepotism has now reached a new high/low in Bollywood where there is no accountability any more for star sons/daughters when they fail and/ore get a widely unfavourable reception from fans. Panipat had flop written all over it the moment Arjun Kapoor starred in it. He hasn’t had a hit since Half Girlfriend and he keeps getting roles. Sure, Salman went through phases of delivering flops but so did everyone then in a more volatile industry and he had delivered massive blockbusters like Maine Pyar Kya or HAHK so there was a basis for trying him again (much as I love to loathe him). Even Arjun’s biggest hits have been slightly above multiplex hit at best. He has never had a real breakout role, a role after which people said, ok, he’s arrived. And yet he keeps getting roles. And he’s just one of the brand new nepots that have atrophied Bollywood in the last decade.
Star sons and daughters always did get the first chance handed to them on a platter without auditioning and just a few handshakes/hugs/namastes as applicable. But when they bombed, they were eventually shown the door.
There is no eventually anymore in Bollywood. No matter how many times viewers vote with their wallet, how many times critics lampoon Arjun Kapoor or Varun Dhawan, they will keep getting roles because they have the right surname. This is not the plain vanilla nepotism seen in other walks of life. This is jagirdari like politics. So if RGV wants to defend nepotism in film industry by comparing it to politics, he has just proved the point people are making.
If KJ comes out and says, look, this is our parampara’s money, we will spend it how we want, it would be squaring with the people. But he repeatedly issues denials, saying they only choose actors based on the expected commercial prospects. That has been proved to be a lie again and again in this decade. There is no write-off point for people from the right lineage while there is nothing an Ayushmann or the late SSR would be able to do to show they can drive box office returns as well as any lead actor from a parampara. Because the gaze of KJ, Adi & Co is jaundiced beyond repair now. And add to that the new political dimension. If I am saying all the above, imagine what BJP supporters fueled by Kangana’s rants are saying now. This is going to be big. Dharma, YRF & co would be best served by some quick damage control and an unconditional mea culpa. Stop pointing fingers at other industries and own up to your failings instead. Film industry by its very nature does depend on the goodwill and affection of the audience and once they lose it, it will be very hard to win it back, especially today when entertainment is just a web series on an OTT platform away.
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Doba
June 18, 2020
No Anu, still don’t agree. But that’s ok 🙂
Madan, the biggest product of nepotism has got to be Katrina Kaif. She is not a star kid but it is obvious that her career has been propped up by Salman Khan. I think its quite depressing for aspiring talented actresses that the only way they can reach the top is by having the right boy friend.
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Anu Warrier
June 18, 2020
@Doba – 🙂 No worries. I don’t have a pig in this argument. I like the work of some star kids and I don’t like that of others. I like the work of some ‘outsiders’ and I don’t of the others… shrug
But then, as I said before when the nepotism debate came around, I watched Refugee because it starred my idol’s son in it. My dad came with me because the film was introducing Raj Kapoor’s granddaughter. So I’m complicit, if only by being the consumer.
And as I said, I’m cynical enough to realise that more than half those who are screaming hoarse about nepotism don’t give a rat’s patootie about it, and will protect their and their children’s privilege with as much vehemence as they denounce others. Schadenfreude is a real thing.
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Anu Warrier
June 18, 2020
@Madan – I’ll take your word on the Tamil film industry. But that’s not the case with the Malayalam or the Telugu film industries. Everyone seems to be related to one another in the latter, whereas nearly all top stars’ children have entered the film industry in Malayalam. The 2 Ms were definitely outsiders, and so were people like Jayaram, Dileep, Murali, Sukumaran, etc. But their kids? Oh, every single one (with the exception of Dileep) has a kid in the industry. Quite a few heroines are yesteryear stars’ daughters. Though, at least in Malayalam, most new heroines seem to be outsiders.
Honestly, I agree with you that star kids get opportunities after opportunities. But my point is the same people who ‘unfollow’ Alia on Instagram or Twitter will line up to watch her movies when it releases. We are all complicit in this. If you [general you] devour Koffee with Karan and then crib about how Karan is a gossip, I can only laugh at the irony. Or devoutly score Katrina’s/Sonam’s/Sara Ali Khan’s/[insert star kid of choice] insta pages and then crib about nepotism?
It’s a nexus alright. But it’s between the filmstars, the makers, the media and the public. Else, why the hell is 3-year-old Taimur so popular? Media won’t pay the premium they do for his snaps if people didn’t want to see him. What will the media and the public do to him when he turns 16?
Also, as Apoorva Asrani says, it’s not just about insiders and outsiders; it’s the power structure. Kangana, who’s an outsider, is the one who stole his credit when she became powerful enough. Ketan Mehta sued her for stealing the Manikarnika script and research. The original director of the film called out her interference, quit and then was gobsmacked when the credits showed a name by which he’s not even known.
Also, regarding YRF – Ayushman is on record as saying that Dum Laga Ke Haisha saved him when he was ready to pack his bags and go back. What I’m getting at is that even though Bewaqoofiyan flopped, YRF still signed him for the next film. Instead of blacklisting him.
Again, my cynicism rears its head – all this noise will die down by the time the industry is ready for work and the next Dharma/YRF film rolls round. All these people whose hearts are broken by SSR’s death will soon get over it while they salivate over the next Ranveer/ Ranbir/ Alia/ Deepika/ Katrina/whoever release. Outrage is easy. And Kangana is milking it for all it’s worth. Just as she milked the nepotism moment when she realised how the media ran with it.
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Aman Basha
June 18, 2020
@Madan & @Anu:
Doesn’t it also have to do with how in India like everything else, film making is also a family business? It might seemI might be misinformed here, but the current trend of nepotism really hit peak post the 90s, earlier generations had a healthy mix of fresh self made people and actors from established famillies (mostly Kapoors) but looking at those who became popular or stars in the 21st Century, it’s obvious that there is a greater influx of khandaani actors. Could it the effect of Hrithik’s launch in KNPH? And kudos to Kangana for bringing up a topic that was in everyone’s head but no one was talking about till then.
Compared to Hindi, look at Telugu and not just nepotism, it’s an industry where it’s impossible to find an actual telugu speaking heroine and even if there is, she seems to have better opportunities in Malayalam (Ritu Verma). Yet no one seems to talking about it at this level. odd in other countries but somewhat natural in India and the world, nepotism is a natural.
And the 21st Century with its seeming shortage of non filmi background stars saw YRF and Dharma become the biggest production houses in B town. And when they seemingly work with nepotism, it is worrying and more so because Bolly is more progressive and open compared to Tamil/Telugu/Malayalam. Tara Sutaria is an established actress/singer who’s worked with Disney for several years, almost got cast as Jasmine in the Aladdin, and yet gets nowhere as much attention as ahem, Ananya Panday. If KJo is the benevolent mentor, why does Tara Sutaria get such shabby projects like Marjavaan while Ananya gets to co star with VD in a Puri Jagannadh directed pan india film?
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Rahul
June 18, 2020
I was wondering if Bangla film industry is the least infected by nepotism (and why?). I think among the top male actors only Prosenjit is the one who comes from the family of a big star.
And then there are the Sen sisters (Riya and Raima).
But overall there do not seem to be many.
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Isai
June 18, 2020
Ignoring the nepotism vs depression angle, I find it strange that SSR didn’t have any signed films (expect 2 much postponed films) even though his last film Chhicchore, a September 2019 release, became a blockbuster. That is why I feel more inclined to believe that (7?) films were taken away from him because he antagonised someone powerful. Now, I am perfectly fine if KJO or YRF don’t want to work with him anymore for any personal reasons. But it bothers me when some people are powerful enough to prevent others (who want to work with SSR) from working with SSR because of their clout in the industry. I fear this is what has happened with SSR and I think this was a contributing factor, even if it is not the sole reason, for his death.
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brangan
June 18, 2020
“Here is what everyone seems to be forgetting: in an industry where almost no one succeeds, Sushant Singh Rajput defied the odds and, by 34, had built an extremely successful acting career. Like Shah Rukh Khan before him, he was an outsider who made the transition from a successful career in television to a burgeoning film career… Apparently, nepotism renders you impervious to mental illness, and public derision can only push you over the edge if you came from the wrong side of the tracks.”
http://bollybrit.com/features/sushant-singh-rajput-blame-game
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Madan
June 18, 2020
“Federer’s son can walk into any sports manufacturer’s office (for example) that he wants based on his father’s endorsements, with just a basic degree. Do you think a random undergrad can? The Williams’ name will take their children wherever they want to go. (Or not. They are Black. But that’s a different argument.)” – That is the nepotism of opportunity. Or simply, networking taken to the nth degree. But if Federer’s son gets a desk job at the sports manufacturer’s office, he will have to do a good job to pass muster. Mike Douglas would have landed roles easier by being the son of Kirk but he survived and thrived because he was a great actor and sought after for roles that became iconic. That is the distinction others including myself are making in this debate. There is nothing an Arjun Kapoor can possibly do that would get him an F from the nepotism syndicate. That is where Bollywood has ‘ascended’ to a singular level of unfairness that is only seen in Indian politics and in some, but not all, business houses. An Anil Ambani inherited an empire he was not fit to run but a Kumarangalam Birla or a Rajiv Bajaj have made their mark in similar roles for their respective empires. The biggest excuse Bollywood has is the unpredictability. So when it comes to a nepot product, they can always blame the flops on the nature of the business, while for outsiders they will cite the “You’re only as good as your last show” rule.
“Also, regarding YRF – Ayushman is on record as saying that Dum Laga Ke Haisha saved him when he was ready to pack his bags and go back. What I’m getting at is that even though Bewaqoofiyan flopped, YRF still signed him for the next film.” – I agree with that but that still does not make him a YRF hero. He is not of the YRF stable.
“look at Telugu and not just nepotism, it’s an industry where it’s impossible to find an actual telugu speaking heroine and even if there is, she seems to have better opportunities in Malayalam (Ritu Verma). Yet no one seems to talking about it at this level. – This is an issue in Tamil too and it comes up often for debate. Or rather, it’s not even a debate anymore in circles like this blog; everybody thinks hiring only North Indian actresses who cannot speak the native language, like, at all is bad. The reason it is not a national level issue is it is regional cinema. The same national media apathy that makes most listeners up North oblivious to Ilayaraja or makes English media refer to Sridevi as a Bollywood actress and erase her work in the South callously also allows the South film industries to get away with some stuff that is no longer possible in Bollywood, particularly an appalling objectification of women.
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Aman
June 18, 2020
https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/curious-case-shekhar-kapur-man-abandoned-least-13-films-including-sushant-singh-rajputs-paani/
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Aman
June 18, 2020
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/amp/entertainment/bollywood/160620/sushant-was-not-short-of-work-rumi-jaffrey.html
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Aman Basha
June 18, 2020
@brangan: Sir, I agree with the article you have posted. SSR’s death has awakened a greater awareness and discussion on mental health issues as well as strengthened the nepotism debate. The arguments against nepotism can be looked at as my and the general audiece’s anger that a boy who went from a TV actor to a movie actor successfully and had achieved so much is only getting recognized after his death because the spotlight of the media was on those beneficiaries of nepotism. The attention and opportunity star kids get may be due to not only producers and media but also the audience, and to that here’s the quote from the article:
“While he cannot force an audience to embrace you, he can certainly beat them over the head with your image, a talent he typically reserves for the sons and daughters of other powerful film families”
The people being attacked and criticized may have nothing to do with his death but then they have taken over the market in a way that stifles the entry of freshness into the industry.
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Ditga
June 18, 2020
Did you see this ?
Not saying Nepotism is THE reason or only reason for what happened. But … the industry is not welcoming to newcomers and more so some of them more than the others.
The number of gossip columns and blind items on Sushant Singh is something I haven’t seen much of for other “stars” , right until early June. Abhishek Kapoor talks about this at 18:00 ; (which also contradicts the whole Rohini Iyer statement) Who drives these blind items and who pays for them to be out ? A lot of his co-stars and directors have given interviews talking about how wonderful it was to work with him – which is completely contradictory to the sleazy articles about him. Has this happened much to the star-kids brigade?
Mayank shankar tweeted about how he was told he couldn’t get a solo interview with Sushant but with Sara for Kedarnath.
And the Bhatt’s talking about sensing something being off and having a very I told you so statement is extremely unbecoming.
No one is saying the negativity does not get to the star kids , but they are groomed and trained better to handle this. They have a better support system in place with godfathers who look out for them irrespective of the stories that come out.
I think SSR’s death does rankle a lot of people – he was an outsider who made it, he did not just have a life around movies , had varied interests which BW couldn’t slot or relate to not to forget the fact that he was a good actor and performer.
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Doba
June 18, 2020
Film journalism has absconded in India. The big news organisations have confined their reportage to the irritating “who is dating who” and “what did xxx start kid do today”. So you have some good places (like this one) where the art and craft of film making is analysed but none on the actual workings on the film industry.
After all, despite all their claims, production houses aren’t family businesses. There are a large number of people employed with crores of money and lots of government tax write offs. Why did issues like casting couch etc never get investigated thoroughly? The fourth estate seems to be content to amplify social media voices rather than doing its part in asking questions. I don’t suppose we will ever a Ronan Farrow style investigative reporting here.
Their response is usually that nobody is interested. But if you look at what is happening today, it is obvious that people are interested. I think, on the contrary, its because they don’t want to break the connections. The same stars come for chat shows, leadership summits and award shows. So why kill the cash cow? So despite the film folks claiming to be soft targets, they have it easier than even the politicians in terms of accountability.
I can’t recollect the last time, a film personality looked even remotely uncomfortable in a Q & A. Whereas a losing sportsman has to stand and answer questions on his/her form, training, focus and what not within minutes of losing a harrowing game where it was obvious that he gave it his all.
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Jallikattu lover
June 18, 2020
Even if Karan Johar is all for inclusion, his show Koffee with Karan only sends the wrong message. I have been baffled why SSR hasn’t been invited. The first ever director to be on the show was …Ayaan Mukherji.. even before Rajamouli. It has become a show, to it’s own credit, one that decides if celebrity is hot or not. So much so, non-nepotistic actor Taapsee recently regretted not being part of it, yet.
Sid Malhotra is a nepotism product. Nepotism, IMO is not about a Dad doing good things for his son. It’s not about Alia Bhatt, Sid Malhotra and VArun Dhawan getting to launch in a Dharma film. It’s about these three getting to be AD’s on Karan Johar’s My Name is Khan. When an AD applies to Dharma, he is told to have experience in a minimum of 3 films. Do the same criteria apply to star kids? I think not. I think that’s what everyone is mad about. Easy access.
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Madan
June 19, 2020
“. When an AD applies to Dharma, he is told to have experience in a minimum of 3 films. Do the same criteria apply to star kids? ” – How and why Siddharth got his chance easy for MNIK is not for me to say, but he is not a nepot product though he is as mediocre as them, pretty much. He passed Anubhav Sinha’s audition and worked on a film with him which got canned. It’s possible that Anubhav put in a word to KJ to give Siddharth Malhotra a chance. He did have a privileged upbringing while not from a film background but so did Ayushmann and so did SRK. Why, so did SSR.
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Madan
June 19, 2020
” Whereas a losing sportsman has to stand and answer questions on his/her form, training, focus and what not within minutes of losing a harrowing game where it was obvious that he gave it his all.”
Case in point.
Not a huge fan of JoKo but she was right to dish it out to him in this instance. Yeah, media never confronts film personalities in this way. To give the devil his due, the closest I have seen is in a Frankly Speaking episode where Arnab really pressed hard against AB and took him to task for supporting Salman when he was found guilty in the car crash case.
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hakimokimo
June 19, 2020
Sushant’s story with Yrf was like this:
Sushant signed Pk and Kai Po Che then YRF talents saw him, impressed by him and decided to sign exclusive 3 films contract and that was before the release of his first film ( he can’t sign anything outside the company and was regarded to be their biggest hero ) the 3 films were Shuddh Desi Romance , DBB and Paani. His first films became Hits. Cut to 2015, DBB flopped and YRF cancelled Paani ( he prepared for a long time for it ) Aditya who promised him Befikre shifted the film to Ranveer without informing him ( Sushant didn’t said no to the film and also YRF lets Ranveer do Lootera and Ram Leela despite the contract ) also ( this is more of a gossip ) Aditya promised that he will launch Sushant’s gf Ankita back then and he didn’t. Sushant felt that the company betrayed him. He even tweeted about it and he left the company and cancelled the contract. Cut to the success of Dhoni, many producers saw it as a chance and signed many films with him ( one of them was KJo ) Raabta happened soon and flopped badly, Drive went into production troubles and the rest of films got shelved. The next release turned out to be Kedarnath ( Kriraj and Abhishek Kapoor ( Sushant couldn’t do Fitoor because of the contract ) were the producers and they signed him but they faced many problems and Kriraj’s head Prerna entered jail. The shooting of the film stopped until Ronnie came and saved the film ). The film ( despite the negativity ) became a Hit. Sara got the recognition and He signed 2 films ( Chhichhore and Dil Bechara ) he didn’t sign any film after that and Sonchairiya got a bad release…
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hakimokimo
June 19, 2020
As for Ayushmann, after the release of Vicky Donor, YRF singed 3 films contract with him ( he had Nautanki Sala ( flopped ) and Hawaizada ( flopped ) outside them) the first film with them Bewakoofiyaan flopped and they didn’t have big hopes from him. He chose to do DLKH, Aditya was surprised by this choice and the film surprisingly succeeded. Aditya was impressed by his scripts sense and the company’s PR ( Yrf talents ) helped him to get many scripts outside the company so he can do films after the third film which was Meri Pyaari Bindu and his career really took off after that.
So basically all the actors who debuted in the last decade and became ( big or small ) stars had studio backing from the first film or got it later ( Varun, Sid, Ishaan and Vicky Kaushal ( Dharma ), Ranveer, Arjun and Ayushmann ( YRF ), Tiger ( Nadiadwala ) Rajkummar ( Maddock ) and Kartik ( T-Series )). Sushant lost that after his fallout with YRF and it was hard to survive without it.
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rsylviana
June 20, 2020
I felt so shocked hearing about SSR’s passing that day. He really seemed to be a “sorted” guy and someone who believed in hard work. I first watched him in Kai Po Che and had developed a huge crush on him. He was easily the best thing in the movie and ,if I remember correctly, was giving serious competition to Rajkummar Rao as the one to watch out for. But my SSR-crush subsided in sometime and when the Dhoni film was announced along with the cast I was a bit letdown since I thought a Superstar Sportsman befits a Superstar Actor and not someone like SSR who was not quite there yet. Now seems like a good time to mention that I’m a HUGE MSD fan so anyway, I just sighed and shrugged at the announcement at that time because hey whatcha gonna do right?! Also, everytime a biopic is being filmed we hear how the actor spent so much time prepping and spending time with his/her real-life counterpart that when the same thing happened for this film too, all I thought was “Yea well he better! So what,Is he complaining that he not only gets to play such a cool and kickass man on the screen but also gets to spend so much time with him? Is he ?! Is he?!!!” But then when the trailer was released I thanked the Lord Heavens that I hadn’t become a casting director because Jesus would I have starved with such dismal thinking. I must have watched SSR’s perfect imitation of MSD’s swagger and gait in the trailer a hundred times and was equally blown away by his performance in the film too. It was so satisfying to watch MSD’s legendary knocks, sly smile and casual demeanor played to perfection on screen by SSR. I truly expected him to become a huge star capable of being neck-in-neck with Ranbir but alas …
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rsylviana
June 20, 2020
And most people screaming themselves hoarse about ‘nepotism’ won’t think twice before picking up the phone to call their pal who’s the VP or director of a company to pass on their children’s resume.
@Anu – Regarding the Nepotism debate, I think most of the outrage is not just that the star-kids are being favored and shoved down people’s throats but that the outsiders are being ferociously relegated to the back and treated like shit by the Karan cronies. I agree that most of us are more than happy to pass along a resume of our friend/relative for a coveted job but tell me this, what do we do when we hear from the HR that there is an equally qualified candidate who is being considered for the job ? We’d maybe request HR to atleast take a look at our friend’s resume and proceed with their judgement or probably wax eloquence about our friend’s skills so much so that the HR is atleast inclined to do so right? What else? Now suppose even after this the HR out-rightly rejects our friend or considers them but still rejects them saying the other candidate displays much better aptitude for the job, do we actively seek out the poor guy at the office (after he has joined) and try and belittle him at every office party or gathering ? Or contact every other potential manager/supervisor of his and cook up stories regarding his work and performance so as to make sure that you are effectively ruining his career and livelihood? Because that is what a huge chunk of the outrage is targeted at. Most of us agree that it is completely the producer/production house’s prerogative to rope in any actor whom he/she/they see fit and they can do so with any star-kid /non star-kid they want but this whole “It all comes down to me loving your family” or “you are either with us or against us” is so unprofessional at best and downright nasty and repugnant at worst. I mean I have my reservations about Kangana but I feel “The Movie Mafia” is such an apt title for Karan Johar and the likes.
Disclaimer – I have not been to any movie parties and am not privy to any kind of gossip from any movie industry and whatever follows is what I could gauge based on watching my fair share of interviews and award shows.
About other movie industries , again I agree that nepotism exists there too but I don’t see this kind of snooty attitude towards outsiders here as much as it is being blatantly done in Btown. I don’t see this kind of snobbish attitude towards the other folks from the Southern star-kids and all of the actors seem at-least cordial with each other as opposed to Bollywood where you feel sorry for the likes of SSR, Parineeti Chopra, Bhumi Pednekar who look like they are just getting a sneak-peak at the inside with their heads sticking up from outside. Its as if it has been going on and on for generations in Bollywood (but of course) so much so that it has reached new highs now that it has devoured its latest casualty. Like how Kamal says in Unnaipol Oruvan “Ipo kazhuthula kaththi vachi kekuraanunga ennada pannuveenga nu?
all this noise will die down by the time the industry is ready for work and the next Dharma/YRF film rolls round. All these people whose hearts are broken by SSR’s death will soon get over it while they salivate over the next Ranveer/ Ranbir/ Alia/ Deepika/ Katrina/whoever release. Outrage is easy.
High Five ! If there is one thing I agree with you in this entire thread its this one. Even IF SSR’s demise is still on people’s minds when the theatres open up and the nepotism rage hasn’t died down until then, KJo just needs to quickly wrap up Bramhastra and quietly watch the spines getting magically removed by the nepotism-ranters who would be flocking to the theaters and helping the man fund his next Khandaani…oops kahaani.
P.S: For what its worth , I feel whatever Karan Johar did with Alia Bhatt and is doing with Anannya Pandey is right out of a certain SAC’s textbook which I believe has detailed instructions on “How to configure Superstardom for your protege using your influence and clout?”
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An Jo
June 20, 2020
i put in the wrong link for Pooja, Alia, Shaheen, and Sonia Razdan. Here’ s the correct link:
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anon
June 20, 2020
I’m liking your writing less and less BR. A lot of your writing has taken on “saying a lot of words that mean nothing in the end, because I’m just saying it to fill inches” quality and makes me question your integrity.
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Madan
June 20, 2020
” I agree that nepotism exists there too but I don’t see this kind of snooty attitude towards outsiders here as much as it is being blatantly done in Btown.” – This again is the reason why Bollywood needs to move out of Bombay to some place up North. Not like there is no snobbery in the North. But geographically, the snooty set will no longer be cocooned from the assault of the ‘philistines’ as the snooty set sees them.
Bombay is NOT situated in a Hindi speaking state. The native Maharashtrian population speaks Marathi. The Marathi film industry has somehow survived in spite of being dominated by Big Brother BECAUSE the good films they make speak far more authentically for a working or middle class experience of life while for the snooty set of Bombay, the city or the world doesn’t exist beyond South Bombay and Juhu. So the Marathi population has their own culture and don’t NEED to break the citadels of Bollywood for success.
Let’s contrast this with Tamil cinema. There is an insular Poes Garden set in TN too but here, the native population leaves their hometowns in the heartland to make TAMIL films (not Marathi instead of Hindi). So they compete with the nepot set and when their films do well, they break into the club. This is why you can have a Vijay Sethupathy being part of films in the same industry as Simbu. There are other ways too in which the large Hindi speaking market offers way more A Centers to Bollywood than for Tamil cinema, making a posh multiplex film a far more profitable proposition than its Tamil equivalent.
Still, the reason why this debate has reached a shrill pitch now and not for so many years when Bollywood was all about Kapoor and other khandaans was that the nepot crowd themselves didn’t seem to be so disconnected from the audience as they are now. So even if Aamir Khan came from the Nasir Hussain family, since access to Western culture products was much scarcer back then than it is now, Aamir could speak in the language his audience would understand. Cut to Imran and when he visited a Hindi FM station, he wanted them to play English songs. Now the mileu has changed. These guys have grown up heavily on English songs and English movies and it takes a lot more effort for THEM to fit into the Bollywood mould. Recall that meta-moment in ADHM where Ranbir’s character marvels at SRK reeling off Urdu poetry like it was nothing. It actually captures the change in Bollywood. What was de riguer in Bollywood as recently as early noughties now feels uncomfortable to the new actors because they were not brought up on so much Hindi. If you live in Bombay and have met people who grew up in South Bombay, this would not be surprising because I swear I have met some who struggled to put together sentences in Hindi, no kidding. We would wonder how did they even manage to communicate to taxi drivers, let alone bus conductors. I guess you could in the way that foreign tourists would manage in Mumbai, but that seemed like such a cumbersome way to live for us suburbanites.
This is where actors from non-Bombay background would be able to offer a compelling alternative proposition and keep the industry competitive and healthy. But the price for them is too much because for them hometown is a 1000 km away, not just a few hours long car ride away (we saw this dynamic play out in the misery workers from UP or Bihar faced compared to the local Maharashtrian population who fled the city even before the nationwide lockdown was announced). Ayushmann came from a privileged background and could inhabit Dilliwala easily, being one himself. The adjustment for a SSR was bigger. It did seem like he had made the adjustment until…
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Anu Warrier
June 21, 2020
To be very clear – I’m not defending nepotism. My point, I think, lost in translation, was that all these people shouting themselves hoarse – where were they when Sonchiriya released? If the audience doesn’t go to see Sushant Singh Rajput, then they can’t now turn around and say ‘Oh, the producers don’t promote talent!’ As I said before, we are complicit.
Stop watching star kids’ movies. Watch real talent instead. Naseer blasted the hypocrisy of the paying audience in an interview once, when he was asked why he did bad commercial movies. My ire is that everyone now seems to recognise SSR’s talent – how many of his movies did any of these people see when he was alive?
My way of dealing with it, though, is to vote with my wallet. I don’t see many of the movies starring star kids. I remember being dragged kicking and screaming to watch Student of the Year – didn’t like it one bit! But… it was a huge hit. Why? Sonchiriya played to an empty theatre for 3 days here. I watched it with two other people – the evening show on the weekend. Bas. By Tuesday, it had gone.
I don’t buy the ‘Dharma and Yashraj effectively blacklist new talent’ rubbish. According to Rumi Jaffrey, the director of Dil Bechara, many directors wanted to meet SSR, but the latter was choosy as hell. Bhansali reportedly offered him 4 films, including Bajirao Mastani – unfortunately, SSR was busy with Paani at the time.
Coming to Paani – Shekhar Kapoor can now make all the noise he wants; if he wanted to complete Paani, why didn’t he take it to another producer? That’s what Abhishek Kapoor did when Kedarnath ran into trouble, right? Instead, Shekhar chose to run away. And this is not the first film that Shekhar has left midway – Time Machine with Aamir was shelved midway because Shekhar dropped the project; Roop ki Rani Choron ka Raja was announced with him as director, until he disappeared and then Boney Kapoor was forced to ask Satish Kaushik to take over; he was supposed to direct Prem and Barsaat, but he signed on and then did the disappearing act…
Nepotism sucks big time. I don’t know what the answer is to change the system, but change will happen. Perhaps this is the trigger. But in the meantime, everyone is making hay by giving out statements about murder and conspiracies. And Bollywood is milking the tragedy – a bio pic on SSR has already been announced. The tagline is ‘Suicide or Murder?’
And life goes on.
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
June 21, 2020
Nepotism is one thing but going out of your way to not appreciate and pull an outsider down is completely another thing no? Some of the opinions within this thread go like this – “M.S Dhoni was a success because of Dhoni and not Sushant”. This is exactly what the director Abhishek Kapoor asks in his interview, would the industry have reacted this way if the movie was headlined by a star kid? Take a moment, pause and think about the extra ordinary amount of hard work Sushant put into that film, if you give that much of yourself into something, create a huge success out of it against expectations, only to be told derisively that you had nothing to do with that success, man, that must have stung.
In most “industries” there is a system, recourse, checks and balances, this ensures parallel systems flourish or at least co-exist. In the movie business this is clearly not the case, couple that with the high entry barrier and the odds are heavily stacked against an outsider.
With Sushant though, it literally seemed like “someone” was out to get him! There were vicious blinds written about him incessantly, so much so that sometime in 2019, I remember reaching out to a friend of mine who knew someone who used to work for SSR on what the hell was going on. To say that they were nasty is an understatement. When the news of his death came, that was the first thought that came to my mind – he was just shredded in those blind items!
My questions are as below:
1) As a film critic do you think you need to be a little less harsh on an outsider in his initial years? Say, to even the odds a bit?
2) If indeed he wasn’t targeted by Bollywood’s clique, what the hell were those “blind items” being planted for?
3) Lastly, should “film critics” even write such Blinds? I know you don’t, but some in your fraternity do, and one particular person kept these blind items on Sushant coming.
For some one who had such dreams, ambitions and a thirst to learn, know so many things and literally dream about the stars, a hunger to prove himself, to die disillusioned, alone, hurt and yearning for appreciation despite his successes is a terrible tragedy. I do hope some from the industry read the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner!
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tonks
June 21, 2020
So much for all the conspiracies. He had clinical depression (which is nothing but an imbalance of chemicals in our brain that has strong genetic predisposition, and has to be treated with drugs, period.)
https://m.timesofindia.com/videos/entertainment/hindi/sushant-singh-rajput-was-refusing-to-take-his-medications-rhea-chakraborty-tells-police/videoshow/76459719.cms
Sushant Singh Rajput was refusing to take his medications, Rhea Chakraborty tells police
“Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s rumoured girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty was interrogated by the Mumbai Police for almost 9 hours straight in the ongoing investigations into the actor’s suicide case. As per sources, during the interrogation, Rhea not only disclosed that Sushant had been diagnosed with clinical depression months prior to his passing but also gave proof that he had been undergoing treatment. She apparently said that Sushant had turned to meditation and yoga although he continued to have some extremely low and upsetting days. She also tried her best to coax him to take medications but he refused. Reportedly, Rhea and Sushant were gearing up to star together in Rumi Jaffrey’s next but COVID-19 lockdown delayed it. Now, sources revealed that Rhea informed police that this is true while also adding that she and Sushant were in talks for more than one film. The actress also told police that Sushant’s calendar would have been full till next year with the projects he had almost locked in.”
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Madan
June 21, 2020
tonks: Sorry but that’s just his GF’s testimony, that’s all. And weren’t they already separated long before his death? Of course it is entirely predictable that one such testimony will be paraded to silence the rumours. This isn’t even about nepotism. Shady deaths have happened for a long time in show business. Why, some deaths happened in broad daylight, like that of Gulshan Kumar.
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Madan
June 21, 2020
“My questions are as below:
1) As a film critic do you think you need to be a little less harsh on an outsider in his initial years? Say, to even the odds a bit?
2) If indeed he wasn’t targeted by Bollywood’s clique, what the hell were those “blind items” being planted for?
3) Lastly, should “film critics” even write such Blinds? I know you don’t, but some in your fraternity do, and one particular person kept these blind items on Sushant coming.”
Now here I completely part ways where the witch hunt extends to the media and film critics. Media is vulturous in different ways in different parts of the world. Remember the paparazzi pretty much abetted Princess Diana’s car crash death. So if you cannot handle criticism and of a very vile variety, you shouldn’t elect to work in a profession where success will expose you to the public in a way that doesn’t happen in ‘normal’, ‘boring’ professions. Had SS worked in small films and combined it with theater, sort of what Jim Sarbh does, he would have made less money but would also have more privacy and more of a normal life. You are accountable finally for your choices; you can’t ask the world to rearrange itself for you to where you find it comfortable. The subtle bullying and shaming by KJ and co, though, is unpardonable. Again, as much as I have litigated for him on behalf because of their rotten attitude, I also feel someone as bright as SSR should have been less starry-eyed and understood what he was getting into. He was young enough to change professions too. He didn’t HAVE to get stuck in a world he perhaps did not fit into.
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brangan
June 21, 2020
What are these blind items? Does anyone have a link/links?
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Madan
June 21, 2020
I know that the Bollywood Gossip twitter handle posts some salacious stuff…
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An Jo
June 21, 2020
What are these blind items? Does anyone have a link/links?
Here’s an example –
Remember cat-gossiping from Deviyani Chaubani from the ’70s and ’80s; this is the modern version – thanks to the great ‘social media’
You name nobody, but you name everybody… a little birdie told us; ya well, if i could hear that bird talk to us in person
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myselfaamir
June 21, 2020
This is the link to many of the blind items written about SSR-
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aman
June 21, 2020
https://mobile.twitter.com/Sharanyashettyy/status/1274057184842616832/photo/1
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Madan
June 21, 2020
Abhishek Kapoor talking about how Bolly treated SSR from 13:30 onwards:
Saying in a very articulate, polished way what Kangana said in her rough style.
Also, “That (nepotism) is ok. Parents will want to do what they can for their children. But don’t discredit the outsiders. Don’t not celebrate him. Celebration of an artist is oxygen for him. He will die if you do not celebrate him.”
There’s more there too.
See, nobody really knows how and why he died because he was all by himself in his last moments. The point from the outsider group is simply that don’t whitewash his depression as an endogenous event that had nothing to do with your (nepots) filthy insularity and snobbery.
Also talks about the slandering articles against SSR when him and Abhishek Kapoor were making Kedarnath.
By the way, when Whitney Houston died, Chaka Khan speaking on a mainstream TV interview described the industry as ‘demonic’. That is, it is not something new that show business treats its artists, the very people responsible for the magic, terribly often times. So it’s totally OK to make the nepot set feel some measure of guilt over this. Because they ARE extremely ruthless behind the curtain and their smiles and laughs are very make-believe indeed. If the negative tweeting against them bothers them so much, well, cry me a river.
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Madan
June 21, 2020
“A part of me is lost with Sushant’s death. Movies, movie stars and being a fan of them is not the same thing to me anymore. Now that we can see there’s so much ugliness behind the glittery facade, I can no more feel the same about bollywood and celebrity culture as a whole. A man tried hard to “fit in” but could never do so, his individuality got crushed by the toxicity, his purity and uniqueness got mocked and singled out, his soul got tortured to the extent that he gave up. It was the entire system who did it, some were active culprits in this game, some just sat with a popcorn and enjoyed it, rest probably could sense the pain and even empathise it from a distance but never took a step forward to make any concrete change in his life, they are all guilty. The whole system as ‘Paatal Lok’ mentioned is a well oiled machinery, if you don’t fit in well they pluck you out. The realisation of all this and the loss of a beautiful, talented, extremely intelligent soul and an artist is painful beyond belief. It can never be the same EVER.” – Great comment on that Youtube video (Abhishek interview). I think in a nutshell, the silence imposed by covid made people see things more clearly and as a result, they have lost their innocence about Bollywood. That is why this is playing out differently from previous shady affairs like Divya Bharti. As a child then, I was aware of the rumours that her death wasn’t really an accident. People knew about it. But we were all going with the flow, running on the treadmill of life as we had organised it. Now that has been taken away and it is harder for people to just forget about the sour taste…
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
June 21, 2020
Here are some other references:
1. A “Live Mint” article on this topic: https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/why-blind-items-must-die-in-2020-11592568725317.html
2. Kriti Sanon’s twitter feed : https://twitter.com/kritisanon/status/1273161617409216514/photo/1
3. An interview of Sushant where he speaks about negative articles (around 3:31): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG1ZuXF8kjc
With SSR though I think the frequency and tone was particularly nasty. And the reader must also feel guilty about his/her voyeuristic tendencies.
I do agree on the point on judging one’s mental aptitude for a field. It’s also a mistake that lots of us make, because our education doesn’t equip us to judge this about ourselves. It’s just that for most people, life doesn’t take them to a point of no-return because of this mistake. Film industry in that sense, is a high risk high reward field, but as a poker player would say, one needs to even the odds. And agree, that likely, this was SSR’s biggest mistake.
There is a “crowd” psychology at play on twitter and its not difficult to fathom why. But, the point about KJo being that he brought this upon himself. So, its difficult to feel sorry for him. He is the most vocal and visible face of Bollywood, and the risk and reward swings both ways. When KR called him a “movie mafia” he let her get under his skin, brought this up in interviews and went so far as to jump with “Nepotism Rocks” in IIFA. He followed that with the launch of a bunch of star kids and a fresh season of KWK where he was upto the same snooty nonsense. Well, one can’t blame the public now for targeting him!
While the tone unfortunately might have been accusatory, the first point on film critics was more on the lines of what is your opinion on that? To be a sensible and serious critic cannot be easy. Humans and stars specifically, don’t like being told they are not good. While some of them may lash out, some may ignore and few may be deeply hurt. Some of them may not be on the “same plane” as others whom you are reviewing. How do you balance that against professional integrity? Or should that even be a consideration? Rest of us thankfully don’t face these dilemmas in our daily jobs!
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Jai
June 21, 2020
Hadn’t realized Rajeev Masand was into writing gossip columns! 😕😒 Is this confirmed, that he’d written these crappy blind items/articles?
This is cheap and rather disgusting. Even if this tragedy hadn’t happened to SSR, it’s completely unbecoming of a film critic like Masand to be doing this. If he wanted to write these columns, then he should have confined himself to the yellow “journalism” of a Stardust or Filmfare or the likes and not worn the hat of a film reviewer.
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Doba
June 21, 2020
Sonam Kapoor tweets “Today on Father’s Day id like to say one more thing, yes I’m my fathers daughter and yes I am here because of him and yes I’m privileged. That’s not an insult, my father has worked very hard to give me all of this. And it is my karma where I’m born and to whom I’m born. I’m proud to be my father’s daughter.”
Utter facepalm. Thanks to her mention of karma, she now comes across as incredibly casteist as well. Most working professionals who express such a view would be hauled before some type of enquiry committee.
Madan, you seem to be right when you say that this crowd’s view is jaundiced beyond repair now.
On a lighter note, her social media manager or whoever is seriously overpaid if they allowed this to pass.
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Srinivas R
June 21, 2020
@Madan – just adding to your thoughts on nepotism in regional industries..
In Tamil, there is not much of a culture of going gaga over every movie of the industry insider. So, Vikram Prabhu gets a much publicized welcome, with Kamal and Rajini vouching for him and goading the audience to welcome him, but thats just one film. 2 films in, he has to kick, scream and survive on his own. Gautham Karthik gets a dream debut with Maniratnam movie, that movie flops and nobody is trying to keep his popularity up. The next generation of Tamil cinema’s biggest starts – Shruti Hasan and Aishwarya Dhanush, don’t have much of a career to write about. I can’t imagine Suhana Khan being sidelined if her initial two movies don’t go well.Nepotism will help you to get the first movie or 2, but beyond that tamil cinema is very cut throat and very fair IMO.
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Rahul
June 22, 2020
I do not want to make assumptions about how SSR may have felt or the reasons for his. suicide. But I would be surprised if even a few thousand people outside Bollywood took these “blind items” seriously or even read them. There were a few magazines in the pre internet days like Stardust etc and people bought them for their posters and pictures, not their articles. The anglophile class that these magazines are targeted towards were always more interested in Hollywood anyway.
I think these Bollywood types and coterie who play these games take themselves a little too seriously. I am remanded of the allegory of Plato’s cave wherein people who have never left the cave mistake it for the entire universe.
That said, I can understand how these can effect people, specially if these blind items are accompanied by other forms of discrimination in their day to day life.
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Madan
June 22, 2020
“I can’t imagine Suhana Khan being sidelined if her initial two movies don’t go well.” – Exactly. This super long rope for nepot products is what people find irritating. Everybody understands that, even if it is a little unfair, film industry parents will give a leg up to star kids. That is what happens in ANY sphere of work. What does not happen uniformly across fields is perpetually propping up star kids no matter how often they flop while always running down outsiders who are seen as a threat to the career of these star kids.
@ Doba: Yup, I read that tweet. Not surprised at all. They will retaliate with brazenness, “Haan, main mera baap ka beta hoon, kya karega be” in more polite words.
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sachita
June 22, 2020
At this point, we absolutely dont know enough about this death. If he was upset by the bollywood mean gang or not. He had clinical depression but did quarantine push his boundaries. (Is clinical depression caused by circumstances ..?).
I am surprised how people argue one way or another. There are people who are getting bullied for merely mentioning the depression issue. Wish people atleast got educated about clinical depression during this time. I didnt know anything about it even couple of days ago.
It is hard enough to talk to friends out of the negative spiral that sometimes they land into. Then how do you talk to someone who is in no emotion state.
I do hate nepotism, and as public we do suffer the consequences of it. I dont want to see Ananya pandey, Jhanvi kapoor and likes. We are probably never going to see new Shahrukh or new madhuri dixit in today’s time because of nepotism. Stars like that are born once in a blue moon.
Also telugu has much bigger nepotism problem. There was some actor Udhay( I think) in telugu whose successful career dropped after his engagement with chiranjeevi’s daughter was called off.
Tamil has less of it. May be people have lesser feudal mindset here. Vijay sethupathy, sivakarthikeyan, ajith are all top stars and well respected after their success.
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Aman Basha
June 22, 2020
@Madan: It is a serious blow to Bollywood’s prestige and audience love. There are many who think that one more star kid movie and everything will go away but it’s highly unlikely anything like that will happen. In the age of social media, the public never seems to forget and these campaigns and outcry against films on social media have affected them, earlier based on some political statements made by the leads. Now, anything that has a star kid or Dharma produced is bound to be affected.
KJo had it coming for him, being the public face of Bollywood and more specifically, the insider group. Even Salman Khan launches family and friends but he makes films only for his family and those star kids are nowhere as publicized as KJo’s proteges. Some of the stuff that’s already come out is stunning; that KJo rejected Anushka Sharma and she taken by YRF and even then casting doubts on her ability to the producer. Ayushmann revealing that he was denied even an audition by Dharma because he wasn’t a star kid. This list is bound to grow in the coming days and so with it the loss of admiration and respect KJo has left. Kangana hit them where it hurts this time. Celebrities make money out of their Instagram posts depending of the followers they have and with the daily drop, its only going to come down with time. It is unfortunate to see Alia get affected over the controversy raging over her mentor, she is one of our finer actresses.
I had no idea film critics like Rajeev Masand write these blind items. If it is so, it’s extremely cheap and shameful and as shown earlier, the number of blind items coming on Sushant and now Karthik Aaryan are extreme.
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Doba
June 22, 2020
This discussion reminds me of a conversation that I was part of in US a long time ago that has always stuck with me. A white male friend got frustrated and said something to the effect of “I can’t apologise for being a white man.” An asian American woman responded saying something like – nobody is asking you to apologise. But you can make a greater effort in understanding the issues that the others are facing and perhaps in time, even ally with the cause.
If the insiders just said, “we get the issue or we will try to understand the issue and see if there are ways we can open the industry more to the outsiders. We will have a workshop, open forum or whatever,”, the matter would rest. Instead there are increasing degrees of defensiveness and denial.
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N Madhusudhan
June 22, 2020
Whether the effects of nepotism and the bullying of outsiders actually led to Sushant’s suicide is something we’ll never know. But there is nothing wrong in the elite nepot crowd feeling guilty because they were never nice to him when he was alive. If they don’t feel guilty now, they never will.
They never missed a chance to ridicule him – KWK shows, twitter posts, Salman Khan’s comments, mean comments and blind items in the media. And now that he’s deal they want to act like the nicest people on earth.And they were the first ones to do the lip service when he died. It was clear that these nepot kids targeted Sushant aggressively. Look at the insecurity when a talented outsider does good work.
I do believe that the likes of Karan Johar deserve this backlash (not the abuse, but definitely harsh criticism) as they got so aggressively defensive after Kangana’s show. Sonam Kapoor’s tweets yesterday only proves this point. Does she mean that the reason people who were born outside the industry and go through struggle is because of bad karma? It would have been much better to stay quiet and ignore the trolls. Particularly when you don’t have something meaningful to say.
I was curious to know Anupama Chopra’s thoughts on this. I find her silence a bit strange. She obviously has a better idea of how Bollywood (i.e. nepot crowd) works than the others at FC. She doesn’t HAVE to say something. But there can be no better time.
Also i’m surprised that Rajeev Masand used to write these blind items. The levels these so called gentlemen stoop down to.
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TambiDude
June 22, 2020
“Nepotism will help you to get the first movie or 2, but beyond that tamil cinema is very cut throat and very fair IMO.”
Why tamil movies only? This is true for Bollywood too. Being a star child or family may ensure that you get movies on a regular basis and not pass into oblivion , but you still have to succeed on your own. Arjun Kapoor or Sonam Kapoor prove it best.
BTW is it only me who has completely written off bollywood and moved over to OTA of Amazon / Netflix / Hotstar. Far better storyline/acting and for a change actors who are not there just for looks. Just look at Jaydeep Ahwlat in Patal lok. He was so endearing that we were rooting for him by second episode.
Post 2017 I might have seen less than 5 bollywood movies. Good riddance.
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Kaveri
June 22, 2020
Like many here, its been more than a week and i am not “over” SSR being gone. I did not follow many Hindi cinema personalities before but this week i unfollowed the few star kids i did follow.
I also actively followed a few outsiders whose work I like. Most of the outsiders have lacklustre social media feeds. Their posts are a less frequent, more publicity aimed and less personal. But then social media, does not have to be their forte. Acting should. (If after a point the publicity posts annoy me, i will probably unfollow.) But I am suddenly conscious of the choices i make as an audience and want to train the social media algorithms to align with this change in me.
I know i am not alone in these choices. KJO and Alia’s followers have reduced by atleast a million in the last week. All of these people (KJo, Sonam, Kareena, Ananya etc) have now limited comments on their Instagram feed. So all i hope is that this debate that was started by Kangana, fueled by Karan keeps the momentum until change happens.
I know discussions happening in fashions blogs (like high heel confidential) where Alia’s ripped jeans and T-shirts are posted immediately and discussed way more than say a Rasika Duggal’s experimental fun fashion choices. It is easily noticeable how outsiders from middle class families wear lower prices brands whereas a Kushi wears high end brands even before her first film and is therefore covered in these blogs. It is a cycle and it needs to stop. We need to recognise the smaller, more hardworking people.
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Madan
June 22, 2020
” Arjun Kapoor or Sonam Kapoor prove it best.” – How does Arjun of all people prove it? He was cast in Panipat in spite of his not so overwhelming previous record and it flopped predictably. Nepots have no problems getting films. There is no baseline anymore, that is what people find annoying about Bollywood now.
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Madan
June 22, 2020
https://theprint.in/opinion/bollywood-nepotism-karan-johar-sushant-singh-rajput/445850/
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Madan
June 22, 2020
@Aman Basha: Let’s see, the same covid that has heightened consciousness about nepotism could also help calm tempers by the time theaters do open again. But I do agree that, yes, working with a business-as-usual assumption will be a mistake for Bollywood. I am not on Twitter but even on Youtube, the anger this time is vicious. And remember, we just lost another well loved outsider – Irrfan – and there was no anger then, because the people have a gut feel for when things have gone wrong. It is not new that this sort of thing happens in the film industry. What is new is the anger this time. As we discuss, it’s already a week now since this article was posted and neither have we stopped discussing, nor has the anger abated on social media.
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Anu Warrier
June 22, 2020
@Doba – Sonam Kapoor’s tweet was tone deaf. I honestly don’t think anyone should apologise for the privilege they are born into; as Abhishek Bachchan said once, ‘Why wouldn’t I want to be my father’s son?” But he is a lot more sensible in acknowledging that it made him privileged. To actually say that it was ‘Karma’ that got her there is not just being amazingly blind to the realities of life, but showing your ignorance and your innate belief that whatever good has happened to you happened because it was ordained and you deserved it, and that others are lesser than.
It’s incredible that Anil and Sunita Kapoor’s daughter should actually voice this. Especially the latter, who’s one of the most grounded individuals around. And even Anil, for all his narcissism, has never once claimed something so stupid. I wonder whether Sonam thinks her father had bad karma? Because that man struggled to become what he is, producer father notwithstanding.
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Rahul
June 22, 2020
Have a look here if you think nepos give up after few films
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armaan_Kohli#Filmography
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Doba
June 22, 2020
@Anu – Yeah, her tweet was shockingly bad. Made me wonder if she has grown up somewhere outside India. How does someone talk about BLM, me too and stuff and then not be aware of what happens in her own backyard? Unless, there is some alternate universe happening in those charmed circles.
But inspite of that, social media has gone too far. The coarse language, rape and death threats are frightening and taking away a lot from a genuine discussion.
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V
June 23, 2020
Speaking of the impact which these “blinds” or “kisu-kisu” make, I do remember this – a decade ago, when Asin broke into the Bollywood scenario with Ghajini and was subsequently cast in Sallu’s London Dreams, a steady trickle of such gossip & throw-away news items started appearing in magazines. Since she was a star in Tamil too, those pieces were carried in Tamil magazines like Kumudam too.
Sample this: Apparently, the Bollywood Costume designers refused to take back Asin’s costumes as they would reek of sweat! Or another one: As Asin kept craving for on set, she had developed a paunch and none of those chic designer stuff would fit her.
These random lines would keep showing up too often to pass for regular coverage of starlets. Kumudam even went as far as suggesting that Kareena was behind the careful planting of such stories!
Now, I loved Asin in many of her Tamil films – M Kumaran, Ullam Ketkume, Ghajini & even in Dasavataram’s screechy role (after all, even Kamal had a rare word of praise for her back then). But after running into such deprecatory pieces, I started looking intently for her sweat patches & pet paunches in her films (I was 30 then not some starry eyed teen!). So much that from her beautiful eyes, my focus would move to her thoppai in Suttum Vizhi Sudare…
And to add to this, I chanced upon a very cheap, suggestive photo-shoot with her in one of those very mags which had maligned her before. I mean, in Tamil, she was always this cute (not sexy) actress who was modeling her career on the lines of Revathy. But “there” she was portrayed as a desperate wannabe!
With that Asin went out of the collective memory of Kollywood and Bollywood alike! And wait – the gossip-mills stopped too. (And to bring in KWK references – I think Anushka Sharma even mentioned how the best debut award was given to A Sin in the year she debuted!)
From whatever I know – here, a Shruti Hassan or Aishwarya Rajni gets trolled on par with Trisha or Nayan. And you hear stories of Anushka Shetty being gracious in letting Trish get the better role in Yennai Arindhal or Samantha getting a recco from Trisha every now and then.
With the men, Surya aside, none of the others (including Karthi) have had any instant clout with the fans – infact Dhanush who was everyone’s favourite in his Thiruda Thirudi days started getting ribbed only after his association with Rajni. Vijay – yes a nepo product. But hey, even Ravikrishna was plugged in extensively by AM Rathnam, but to no avail right?! (remember – Vijay played a cameo in Sukran). And for every Kamal (who was from a privileged background back then) there is a Rajni (rank outsider), Vijay – Ajith, Surya – Vikram, STR – Dhanush, Jeeva – Arya, right down to Yuvan/Anirudh – Harris/Imman – the equation seems well balanced here.
SSR’s death seems to have deeply affected many of my Tamil friends here who had (at the most) watched MS Dhoni Untold Story in Tamil & no other film of his. In their words – Andha payyan kannla theriyudhu avan nallavan nu. Isnt this the same way we celebrate actors like Vijay Sethupathi? Or even someone like Ashok Selvan who just tasted success with Oh My Kadavule?? I feel Nepotism is still too big a word to be used in namma Kodambakkam!
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TambiDude
June 23, 2020
Madan: Actually I said the same. Despite a string of flops Arjun K keeps getting movies for just one reason. His family. But he is still a flop actor.
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Madan
June 23, 2020
V: One of the reasons there is less nepotism in Tamil is also that the original film families were less savvy or their progeny weren’t interested in films. Did MGR have children? Wiki says none. Of Gemini’s children, only Rekha became an actress and she had to make a name for herself in Bollywood without the support of her father. Sivaji did try to mimick the Kapoor model with his own production house as well as a son who acted in films. But that son – Prabhu – delivered a lot of hits including his very first film. And when his films began to flop, he got relegated pretty quickly. Same with Karthik/Muthuraman. It is amazing, in fact, how quickly Karthik and Prabhu were written off given the amount of commercial success they did have at their peak. In that regard, they were no different from an outsider like Mike Mohan. This has not changed till date. Whereas in Hindi, you have a bunch of parivars with filmi background and every new generation wants to be involved in films one way or the other. So you have Ranbir carrying forward the RK legacy, Akshaye – a decent actor albeit and one who might fare better in a more Hollywood like, less star wattage obsessed movie industry – carrying the baton for Vinod Khanna, the Boney Kapoor family, the Nasir Hussain family, the Salim Khan family, the Javed Akhtar family. There are entirely one too many families, basically. 😀 (and I left out a few) And Shah Rukh’s kids are just about getting started now. It gets tiring man. I was a kid when Baazigar became a big blockbuster and may the Lord forgive me but I watched it multiple times. Now I have to go through the whole jhamela again as a mid 30s adult as Aryan and Suhana make baby steps in the industry? Please!!!! 😀
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Madan
June 23, 2020
I did not know about this campaign against Asin. That is shameful indeed. I too wondered where she disappeared after Ghajini did well in Hindi. She had even moved residence to Mumbai to make a new career here.
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Srinivas R
June 23, 2020
The campaign against Asin is sinister. I just thought, she was unlucky not to get good movies post Ghajini and decided to settle down. Actually, her movies like Golmal, Housefull franchises were commercially successful, trashy they may have been. Now I see how these blinds could be exhausting.
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Anuja Chandramouli
June 23, 2020
A little late in the day to jump into the fray here, but SSR’s tragic passing is something that has really gotten to me. I jotted down some thoughts on my blog (https://anujachandramouli.blogspot.com/2020/06/this-year-continues-to-boggle-mind-with.html ) but I keep mulling over it… Remember attending a session of his at a Literary festival. He made a huge impression. The guy seemed so sorted and nice. Before the session began, SSR was by himself in the authors lounge, and to my surprise he did not have an entourage hovering over him. He was seated in the sofa next to mine, and I considered saying Hi but decided against it. Then the session commenced, was over in an hour and he had left the venue. After hearing him speak, I decided I really liked him and was sorry I hadn’t told him I thought he was brilliant in Dhoni.
Now on the strength of this, I can’t claim to know him but based on the impressions formed that day, I don’t think he gave a crap about being accepted by KJo’s Kool gang. Dude marched to his own beat and seemed very confident and clear about what he wanted to do. When asked to name some similarities and differences between him and MSD, I remember he said they were both hard working but MSD has a clear code where right and wrong is concerned whereas he described himself as amoral. He added that he was not a planner and plodder like MSD but preferred to simply go with the flow… SSR also mentioned Chanda Mama Door Se, a project close to his heart, where he was to play an astronaut. Guess that didn’t pan out like Paani and all those other films but I don’t think it would have been insurmountably devastating for someone like him.
Guess what I am trying to say is that none of us will ever know why he did what he did or even if he did what he seems to have done. Didn’t his ex manager, Disha Salian take her own life merely a week before he did? Perhaps there is some shady business involved or maybe there isn’t? Who knows? I am just saying all of us are feverishly working on a puzzle where most of the pieces are missing…
As for the nepotism thing, I agree with most of the comments here. You can’t get mad at someone over their good fortune and privilege but it would be nice if the Bollywood glitterati acknowledged how lucky they are and were more inclusive and encouraging were outsiders are concerned. The paying audience aren’t exempt from blame either. If most of us insist on stalking Jhanvi Kapoor and Taimur Khan while ignoring new talent, then what can we expect? Like somebody mentioned here, I hardly watch BW films these days since there is so much brilliant content on OTT platforms. Really enjoyed Paatal Lol recently, Fleabag, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
Seeing these shows, I can’t help but notice that even minor characters are perfectly cast. How come we don’t have a proper casting agency in India? Perhaps if Bwood and the other regional Woods started relying on qualified casting agents, we could also nurture and cherish talent as opposed to whatever it is we are doing now to everybody’s detriment.
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sachita
June 23, 2020
Come to think of it, Vijay is a textbook case of nepotism. We associate nepotism with most successful star’s son. But Karan Johar isnt from the most powerful family of bollywood. But all the association helps. Now Kjo’s top meme is “if you are a star kid, I will find you and launch you.”
Vijay’s first few films were flops and his dad kept producing more till he was accepted. His dad even arranged/designed fan clubs initially. His dad’s political clout helped him till it turned against him.
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Madan
June 23, 2020
Anuja: Commenting here on your write up because I don’t use Google Blogger.
When you say: “That is a serious charge and it is unseemly to hurl such accusations without a shred of proof. “, I agree with that as the ideal. I really do.
However, the fact of the matter is Salman Khan has gotten away with murder in broad daylight twice, once an animal(s) and the second time a hapless, homeless pavement dweller. In both cases, the industry shamelessly closed ranks and supported him unapologetically.
That is not the only instance in which they did so. MeToo has been a flop where Bollywood is concerned even as Hollywood has nailed a few biggies. How indeed does it matter in the slightest if Sonam Kapoor believes Black Lives Matter if she also believes Nepot Lives Matter Most? Why won’t any of them speak out and why don’t the production houses introspect and clean up?
The fact is in this country filmstars, politicians and industrialists absolutely do believe they are above the law. Saif was brazen enough to say so and guess what, he’s right!
In that case, normal legal principles also do not apply to what the audience thinks about these classes of people who consider themselves above us pesky insects.
I had sort of touched upon this theme when I wrote about Aboorva Sagotharargal. As the police fails to bring Nagesh’s band of villains to book, Appu has to do so himself. Likewise, the film industry can use legal machinery to evade punishment but they can’t control the court of public opinion. And that’s as it should be. We can talk about innocent or guilty when there is a proper investigation in these cases. Most times there isn’t; the police ensure in advance that the investigation is sabotaged and evidence is insufficient to clinch a guilty verdict.
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Karthik
June 24, 2020
It is strange that in this day and age, Karan Johar has continued to run his production house as an exclusive country club where star wattage is seemingly the only currency. That the power wielded by such an entity in one of the richest industries can be a force of inclusivity could not have been completely lost on him. Part of this has to do with the very human tendency to preserve and defend the bubble one is born into and lived in.
But to go from there to accusations of malintent against outsiders is a bridge too far with no real evidence to stand on. I’m also unable to buy into “blinds” having any significance. I am no patron of tabloid gossip, but they have been around forever in every film industry. Compared to the headlines one might find lining grocery counter shelves in the US, the blinds that are listed here seem too tiny a patch to be given any serious consideration.
A tragic loss such as Sushant’s, even if the causes can never be fully understood, should give pause and urge reflection on part of the industry (and those who run it). But for the media to wield it as an instrument to bludgeon individuals is hardly a means for that. Also, this could just be my heightened sensitivity to stench of a certain kind, but there seem to be fake battle lines between Bihar and Peshawar permeating the media frenzy which reeks of something more sinister.
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brangan
June 24, 2020
Karthik: Thank you for that terrific, nuanced comment.
On reason for these “country clubs” is that these big production houses run like the old Hollywood studios. They sign stars on contracts, and these stars become “studio property” (for the duration of the contract). So it becomes profitable to “use” these stars from a business POV.
This is not just because they are talented (some of them are, like Alia; some of them are question marks, like Ananya). The bigger consideration is the earning potential and the clout an Ananya already brings. Look at her perceived brand value, for instance:
https://aksharit.org/2019/09/30/a-look-at-ananya-pandays-bag-of-endorsements/
Now, all this widens her appeal and she gets a readymade audience of teen girls or whoever makes up her target audience. And this is a function of brand surveys, etc. Companies go around with surveys asking colleges and other places who the kids (or adults) identify with the most, and only then do they decide Ananya (or whoever) is a good face for their brand.
Is the “country club” aspect… “unfair”? Absolutely.
I’m just trying to explain WHY it happens, which goes beyond simple star-kid favouritism. It’s about having a certain kind of “cool” factor or “glamour” factor (which sadly, a more talented performer like Bhumi Pednekar lacks) — and this factors into how much value distributors “perceive” in the film and how much OTTs will cough up for it and right down the consumption chain.
So it is — above everything — a business decision.
And it doesn’t have to be a star kid. It could be a beauty pageant winner like Aishwarya Rai. Basically, someone with “buzz”.
The majority of film sites are basically updates of Stardust. They measure their stories by how many clicks and views they get from the general public. So if they publish more stories of an Ananya than a Bhumi Pednekar (or a Taimur over, say, Irrfan’s kids), it’s because this personality has become a proven “click” generator.
It’s a vicious cycle that very few “outsiders” are able to break. And even the ones that do, like Kartik Aaryan or Anushka Sharma or Sidharth Malhotra, do so because they have that “cool” factor, that “glamour” factor. Put simply: Is Kartik Aaryan a better actor than Sushant? NO! Is he more “in demand” among the paying public? YES.
I’ll give you a tangential example in the Tamil industry. When KADAIKUTTY SINGAM was made, Pandiraj chose Sayyesha to play the heroine and darkened her skin so that she would “look” like a Tamil village girl. What a ghastly thing this is! Especially when there are so many naturally darker-skinned actresses to choose from.
And in Pandiraj’s next film, NAMMA VEETU PILLAI, Aishwarya Rajesh (who would have fit the criterion above) was cast as the hero’s sister, while the more “fair-skinned” Anu Emmanuel gets cast as the heroine.
Again, people like us — i.e. on this blog — may cry foul. But we are a microscopic segment of the PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY GO TO THEATRES and decide the fate of films. These decisions are “business decisions”. Because they know that the youth audience likes these vapid fair girls (Kajal Agarwal, Tamannah, the list is endless) — and that becomes a way of ensuring an audience for these films.
Does Karan bring the same set of guests on his TV show because HE wants to? That is a LOT of it, yes. But Star World also knows which guests are likely to bring in the TRPs — and that is decided by us, the audience.
It’s a very deep and unfair and horrible system, and to break through (or even just survive), you need a very tough skin.
But now that OTT is becoming a larger part of the conversation, I can finally see talented actors having an outlet to make a mark ONLY ON THE BASIS OF THEIR TALENT.
Still, as far as theatrical stardom goes, it will always be lopsided. It will always be a “country club”.
I am not defending ANY of this. Just pointing out how things work, which is a very systemic problem rather than something that’s just the result of one powerful person’s whims and fancies, whether that person is Karan Johar or Aditya Chopra or our big Tamil stars.
When Pa Ranjith makes his first film, ATTAKATHI, he is able to make it his way, with a cast of Aishwarya Rajesh and Nandita Swetha. That grabs the attention of a Karthi and STUDIO GREEN. And who is the heroine of MADRAS? Catherine effing Tresa, who doesn’t even look like a “Tamil girl”, leave alone someone from the people around her in the film.
That’s how it rolls.
I’ll be very happy if the outcry over Sushant results in a complete overhaul of this dreadful system, but I am not overly optimistic.
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brangan
June 24, 2020
“Tells you much about how we, as a society, estimate the Himalayan strength and happiness derived from professional success alone, or popularity thereof. It’s bollocks, before darkness within.”
https://www.mid-day.com/articles/how-sushant-singh-rajput-died-twice/22854219
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Madan
June 24, 2020
I agree with the line there (in Mayank’s article). But the opening potshots at Abhishek Kapoor are strange. Isn’t Mayank doing the same thing here that he has a problem with twitterati doing about SSR? He is picking sentences out of context from a very lengthy interview in which Abhishek made it clear that he felt the industry did not treat SSR with compassion…or just understanding (I posted the full interview upthread). Yes, Abhishek, the guy who cast him in his first film and again gave him a hit when he needed one with Kedarnath. Abhishek also said very clearly who were the people SSR sought validation from. He mentioned SSR wondering about people not clapping at all at the premiere of Kedarnath and him assuring SSR that the audience would like it and that’s all that would matter.
What’s going on here? Why is this snip-snip-snip going on even when an industry insider (albeit one from the outside) who knew Sushant well puts forth his opinion? Why this campaign to present Abhishek as someone out to settle scores? I have respected Mayank’s writing in the past when he did movie reviews for Mirror so I will give him benefit of doubt and assume he read somebody else’s malicious edit of the Abhishek Kapoor interview and proceeded to pen his article without getting the full context (that is unprofessional but bonafide). If, on the other hand, he has some inside dope about AK, then out with it, don’t do shadow boxing. If instead of all these, he just has an agenda and an axe to grind like other industry wallahs speaking out over the last two weeks, he would be better served not to pontificate about it.
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Madan
June 24, 2020
This in a nutshell is why it has been difficult to take some of these articles on the “he just had depression, so deal with it and leave him be” beat seriously. Because read them carefully and there are these annoying strands of dishonesty and misrepresentation in them. For the record, I am not a mental illness denier at all. My cousin had bipolar and lost a year at a prestigious math school because of it. I have seen her when she was in the throes of dealing with it and it was scary to say the least. Let us not turn this into a tiresome equivalent of a climate change science v/s deniers battle, that’s way too simplistic a formulation. My point is some of the articles have the tone of seeking to minimise or deny the problems SSR may have faced in Bollywood. This one by Mayank unfortunately falls in that category. He cites his limited interaction with Sushant as a counterpoint to Abhishek Kapoor’s closer relationship with the actor which does not sound very fair to me.
Let us keep the discussion on whether their behaviour did abet his suicide or not aside. Even if it didn’t, that doesn’t condone it and they need to fix the industry.
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Doba
June 24, 2020
Dear BR,
I don’t agree with what you have written. You have focused on the market economics aspect of it which is fine. But the point that is coming up, again and again, are the malafide actions on the part of some to actively stop the advance of others. What Harvey Weinstein (and that Farah Khan’s brother whose name I am not able to immediately remember) did was not just promote his proteges – he made the industry unsafe for many women. One is a passive act while the other is a deliberate act that should be prosecuted. Except, here we have no one who is willing to do a thorough investigation. The media who should be doing it are too friendly and star struck to do their job.
Anyway, this point has been made over and over again by others far more articulate. The conversation seems to have reached a stalemate. And I don’t think any of us get convinced by social media discussions.
What is tragic is that now we have two groups – one baying for blood in the most vicious language imaginable and the others who find the language distasteful and unwelcome but almost determined to wilfully ignore the point that is being made.
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Kaveri
June 24, 2020
I didnt know how much I wanted to hear this so much : “I’ll be very happy if the outcry over Sushant results in a complete overhaul of this dreadful system,….”
I wonder why Anupama Chopra (or Rajeev Masand for that matter) doesnt write or talk about it. I thought surely she like everyone needs time to digest this and maybe she still does. But it annoyed me so much that the first things she puts out there post Sushanth’s death is a twitter link of an article by FC staff telling people how to grieve (i.e quietly !!) and then gushes over Taimur yet again. Argh. She lost a whole lot of respect in my eyes.
I know Tapsee in her interview with Anupama said that it took her 5 years to sit opposite her. This was after after Anupama interviewed Jahnvi and Ishaan before their first release.
Tapsee, Kriti, Kartik Aaryan – they all try so hard to diplomatically say what only Kangana managed to say so boldly.
I think journalists should also play their part and stop gushing over star kids and interview talented actors. I know as an audience i am so alert and conscious of my choices now.
Infact, right now i know people who are so angry they have gone to the other extreme – that until there is an overhaul, they swear not to watch even a talented star kid’s movie. I must say i understand this sentiment totally. Gunjan Saxena (if it is any good) can become a cult classic ten years down the road but in the first year of its release it is not getting any clicks on OTT so that even they get the signal. Star kid will not automatically pull in the audience. Afterall there is no way Jahnvi deserved a title role with her Dhadak performance.
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brangan
June 24, 2020
Doba: the malafide actions on the part of some to actively stop the advance of others.
I am not weighing in on this part at all. I am only talking about the market aspect of it, because I know that part through my line of work.
The deliberate sabotaging of one’s career part – this is all hearsay, and at least some of it feels like people firing from Sushant’s shoulders to settle scores. (Due to FC contacts, I get a lot of Mumbai film-industry opinions, again none of which is “concrete”. Just that it’s proof that there’s more to this than what’s playing out on social media.)
With Weinstein, it’s been proved without doubt. He deserves his punishment.
This is harder to “prove”. Within the Tamil industry itself, you will find at least ten Sushants who will tell you similar stories of being backstabbed and/or blacklisted, but it’s their word against someone else’s.
So I choose not to comment on this.
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brangan
June 24, 2020
Kaveri: I know Tapsee in her interview with Anupama said that it took her 5 years to sit opposite her. This was after after Anupama interviewed Jahnvi and Ishaan before their first release.
Read my comment again. “buzz”, “glamour” etc. These are not only the things that will bring audiences to theatres. They are also the things that will bring viewers to videos.
Both these videos were posted within weeks of each other. Look at the numbers. With 5 years of solid work behind her, Taapsee gets some 525K views. With ZERO releases behind them and with just their parents’ names, the Jahnvi-Ishaan video has some 760K views.
Besides views, there is also the engagement factor and how long someone spent on videos. All this decides hos YouTube positions ads, which translates to income.
For you, it costs nothing to watch a video or read an article. For us, videos cost money to shoot and edit, and articles come from paid employees or freelancers.
All I’m saying (not to you personally) is: TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!
Please boycott the next star kid being launched.
Please stop clicking on Taimur’s photos.
Please make COOLIE NO 1 (with Varun Dhawan) a big flop.
Please click on the few videos of Taapsee-type actresss WHEN they are still at the start of their careers, which means more people will make more videos about them.
Please make the next KANAA or PRATHI POOVAN KOZHI or THAPPAD more than just a “decent hit in comparison to cost”.
Please stop watching films like PARIYERUM PERUMAL on OTT and go to the theatres and vote for them with your tickets.
Like any “service industry”, the film industry depends on customers. YOU CAN dictate the terms by buying tickets, by watching videos, by reading articles instead of just gossip pieces.
DO IT. The system will automatically correct itself. It’s an expensive industry. No one will bet on losers, not even those who own “country clubs”.
Finally, you want to know why star kids are popular? Because even a loser star-kid like Arjun Kapoor can bring a flop film like PANIPAT to a 35-crore total. Versus SONCHIRIYA, which made 5 crores. Versus SAAND KI AANKH, which made 20-odd crore.
Translation: People would rather watch a flop “star” in a flop director’s movie, rather than an acclaimed film with “actors”.
I got a great insight from a producer a few years ago. He said apart from the big cities, no one cares about the director or subject or whatever. They decide to watch a movie solely on the basis on whether they know the face on the poster.
In other words, the more a face is “fed” to them on TV or on media, the more familiar that face becomes.
It’s a shitty thing to imagine that we live in a world where Arjun Kapoor’s Sridevi issues and Malaika issues and other things keep him a “face” — because all this is a treat for gossip sites. It’s so much more fun to read about than the fact that Sushant knew quantum physics.
So again, please vote with your clicks on articles you WANT to read on people you WANT to succeed. Similarly, with videos. Buy tickets to Sushant Singh Rajput films like SONCHIRIYA while he is still alive, instead of watching it on OTT and saying “our audience has no taste; how can such a good movie become such a big disaster?”
Again, all I’m saying (not to you personally) is: TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!
If I sound pissed off, it’s because I am in a peripheral way a part of the system. And almost every fucking interview I do or piece I write, I have to do a mental weighing of “will people watch/read this”? I still break off and do pieces I want to do: like a Hemant Kumar centenary piece or on VIETNAM VEEDU turning 50. But I have seen the numbers on those pieces. They are my SONCHIRIYAs 🙂
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N Madhusudhan
June 24, 2020
“I wonder why Anupama Chopra (or Rajeev Masand for that matter) doesnt write or talk about it. I thought surely she like everyone needs time to digest this and maybe she still does. But it annoyed me so much that the first things she puts out there post Sushanth’s death is a twitter link of an article by FC staff telling people how to grieve (i.e quietly !!) and then gushes over Taimur yet again.”
Precisely my point too. And it sums up the media attitude beautifully. The sad part is we get this from a channel that has so far made the effort to stand out from hundreds of other websites that publish horseshit articles in the name of film journalism. Particularly Rajeev Masand who seems have written his share of blind items against SSR. Can he come out and say on what basis did he write those? or being the popular mainstream critic he is, did he care to find out whether those were actually true? Lot of introspection to do.
And the Taimur part comes right in the middle of a series called My Movie Milestone – actors taking about their best performances. And no prize for guessing which part of the video appears in the promos. This has nothing to do with SSR but its annoying when it comes from a channel like FC.
People like Anupama and Rajeev have better access to the insides of Bollywood and are in a position where their opinions could matter. Instead they choose to maintain a convenient silence.
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Doba
June 24, 2020
BR, Fair enough 😦 I see your point.
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Kaveri
June 24, 2020
Thanks BR for that. Especially this reminder “For us, videos cost money to shoot and edit, and articles come from paid employees or freelancers.”
I respect FC South for focusing on quality content over clicks. Like the Amala Paul interview where she “announced” she was dating someone had no mention of that in the title when an Indiaglitz would have put that in a clickbaity masalafied title/thumbnail. I perhaps saw it even as a laudable sacrifice of clicks over quality and took that as a given. (And now with Anupama gushing yet again on another star kid, FC and FC South are not as synonymous as they were before).
I do see your point (and that Arjun Kapoor example puts it across clearly). I have been doing a lot of what you mentioned and since this last week, I am doing so ever more consciously/actively. Heading to check out that Vietnam Veedu piece right now…
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Anu Warrier
June 24, 2020
I know Tapsee in her interview with Anupama said that it took her 5 years to sit opposite her. This was after after Anupama interviewed Jahnvi and Ishaan before their first release.
Kaveri, in that same interview, Taapsee also mentioned that – when asked about why she did Judwaa 2 – that people don’t come to see her in Manmarziyaan the same way they do in the former. And the day, her Manmarziyaans show as much footfalls as a Judwa, she promised to stop doing the latter.
Again, it comes down to what I said in my previous comment – we are complicit!
And a HUGE YES! to what BR said.
@Karthik – great comment!
And the media continuing to bludgeon Karan is just so hypocritical, given that they are equally complicit in running after star kids for their clicks and ratings, and ignoring ‘outsiders’ or those they don’t deem successful enough.
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Madan
June 24, 2020
“Again, it comes down to what I said in my previous comment – we are complicit!” – Not we as in the regular participants of this blog because I don’t think most of us watched Judwa 2 on any platform, let alone theater. The question is will the masses now venting their spleen on youtube really boycott nepot starrer films? I am not even completely on board with the idea of a wholesale boycott. I don’t think a good actress like Alia should pay the price in a behti ganga mein do lena melee. I can live without having to watch another film of hers but it’s not about what I or anybody else wants to watch, it’s about fairness. I think holding their feet to the fire is good enough for now. Don’t rush like mad to a film just because it has somebody that the media is telling you will be a star because they are son or daughter of XYZ. Speaking of…
“And the media continuing to bludgeon Karan is just so hypocritical, given that they are equally complicit in running after star kids for their clicks and ratings, and ignoring ‘outsiders’ or those they don’t deem successful enough.” – This is what Abhishek Kapoor also said, without directly blaming the media. For outsiders, publicising their film actually costs a lot but when it comes to star kids, it’s the media that wants the access.
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Madan
June 25, 2020
The new front in this ongoing battle:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/music/whatever-sonu-nigam-said-is-the-truth-salim-merchant/story-rLFFAYVJTfXKx1A94brRBI.html
Not the first time musicians have spoken out against T Series, won’t be the last.
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Anu Warrier
June 25, 2020
T Series was well known for this, Madan. Kumar Sanu had blasted them for favouring Anuradha Paudwal over him in several interviews. And he was from their stable.
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Madan
June 25, 2020
Interesting perspective from Abhay Deol
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/abhay-deol-calls-out-bollywood-s-lobby-culture-award-functions-i-m-sorry-it-took-someone-s-death-to-wake-everybody-up/story-dUvyaAjQyMnPbu4nHhoZSO.html
As a viewer, I stopped watching or paying attention to Filmfare Awards for the very reason that the lobbying was just transparent and brazen. Even Oscars had its Miramax years but Filmfare is next level and has been for a long time (Pran refused a Best Supporting Actor for Beimaan in protest of Shankar Jaikishan’s lobbying). But I guess Deol has a point that for the actors, the awards are an important source of validation. I mean, there has to be something, some source of validation, it is not fair to expect the actors to adopt a saint like stance of gratification denial though that may well be a survival skill for them.
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Madan
June 25, 2020
“Kumar Sanu had blasted them for favouring Anuradha Paudwal over him in several interviews. And he was from their stable.” – A kind of dekho-kaun-complain-kar-raha-hai case while his grouse is valid for sure. I once happened to meet this Marathi singer who regaled us with a note perfect rendition of Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi. He later said he was in the same T Series audition as Sanu and he was rejected but Sanu got it and he said there is something like naseeb. I think he was being kind.
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Anu Warrier
June 25, 2020
Madan, not just Abhay, both Ajay Devgan and Aamir Khan have called out Filmfare repeatedly. Once upon a time, those awards had a certain cachet attached to them. Now, they are just self-congratulatory. Ajay Devgan even said this on Karan’s show, didn’t he? That he doesn’t go because it’s all rigged? Aamir stopped after the Rangeela fiasco.
And it’s because the Awards are a source of validation that it pinches so much. For years, I have noticed that when you have a really good performance, but it’s from a not-so-well-known actor, they promptly hand them the ‘Critics’ Award’.
Abhay has never played by the rules, and he’s right – he’s an ‘outsider’ even if he’s an insider. In fact, so are Ajay and Aamir. They have forged their own path, without really bothering about the rules – no parties, no social media, no networking…
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Madan
June 25, 2020
“For years, I have noticed that when you have a really good performance, but it’s from a not-so-well-known actor, they promptly hand them the ‘Critics’ Award” – Speaking of not so well known actors, I remember the look on Ameesha Patel’s face when her performance in Gadar was passed over to give Kajol the award for K3G. Ameesha is not necessarily a much better actor than Kajol but Gadar WAS a terrific performance. Ameesha was clearly crushed she didn’t win the award. Her career went south soon after. On a not entirely unrelated note, this period marked the beginning of the overwhelming preference for size zero heroines. Gracy Singh made a sparkling debut in Armaan and did well in Munnabhai MBBS as well but she was very quickly aunty-fied by the industry. In retrospect, this was part of why Vidya Balan struggled for a few years even after a strong debut. They needed to wait till she was matronly enough to be cast in ‘gravitas’ roles.
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Aman Basha
June 25, 2020
Does anyone take our award shows seriously? People watch them only for the entertainment quotient from all the song and dance, comedy routines. And since it’s the stars who bring in the entertainment factor, they give awards keeping all the biggies happy. It’s not exactly ideal, but keeping that aside, our award shows are fun.
The problem is we don’t have the equivalent of an Oscar or an International Festival equal in status to Berlin, Cannes or Venice here. The National Awards do come to close and have their share of embarrassments but apart from that, it is simply impossible to cover Indian cinema as a whole and do adequate justice to all the performers. Plus the National Awards don’t have the box office push the Oscars have.
Also, responding to @brangan sir’s reply that we as an audience should put our money where our mouth is. It’s also that the public media sphere is bombarded by PR and photos of star kids, talk about them in which installment of SOTY they’ll be launched and so on. Take the recent trend of airport looks which has become the norm, Taapsee once stated in public that these were orchestrated by the PR of big stars to keep them visible. Blaming the audience is very very condescending and the exact problem that Bollywood seems to suffer from as seen by their recent attitude. They corner the market in such a way that the audience has no other choice but even then the audience is discerning enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. To give an example, throughout all of KWK, for all the guilty pleasures it offers, whenever Karan lists actresses why is there no mention of a Vidya Balan, whose Kahaani arguably started the trend for female led films becoming blockbusters in Bollywood?
Also, the best proof for how smart the audience is simply looking at the Box Office of these social media stars. We might watch a YouTube video of Jahnavi and Ishaan but we’ve paid to make Taapse’s films which don’t have a mega hype machine or glossed over subjects hits.
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a
June 25, 2020
I know I can’t really blame SRK but it was since he came along that the awards really became a sham. 😦 I still remember the first award he got – after his ‘best debut’ award for Deewana – and he came on stage, and said that he had come with a pocketful of money to buy the award. Remember Rishi had confessed to buying the award, which led to an awkward meeting with Amitabh who had been in the running that year for Zanjeer?
Yes, Ameesha was damn good in Gadar even if the movie was problematic. And Kajol didn’t deserve the award for K3G, IMO.
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Anu Warrier
June 25, 2020
That’s my comment in response to Madan, by the way. The screen jumped when I was typing my name. 😦
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Madan
June 26, 2020
“Blaming the audience is very very condescending and the exact problem that Bollywood seems to suffer from as seen by their recent attitude.” – I would say more than condescending, it is a naive or idealistic viewpoint because I heard Mrunal Thakur make a similar argument, begging the audience to come and watch. But it was the audience that made films like Kedarnath a hit. It was the audience that gave a chance to a film like Vicky Donor where the only known name was Anu Kapoor returning after ages to a film role (yes, he WAS popular around the time because of his radio show Suhana Safar but not Bollywood star level, not even close). It was the audience that made Jolly LLB with Arshad Warsi succeed. The audience is smart enough while not infallible (and ultimately the audience wants entertainment above all so a good but somewhat slow going film like Shikara doesn’t work for them).
The thing is Bolly is extremely conservative when it comes to signing on new guys for bigger projects. This is where Abhishek Kapoor made the point that Sushant delivering a hit with Dhoni was brushed off as attributable to the film being about Dhoni and not his acting, as if the person being convincing in playing such a popular figure is so easy and would be so easily attainable for, um, Arjun Kapoor or Siddharth Malhotra.
This again isn’t new; it’s as old as Bollywood itself. A very classic example is Jaidev helped Muzzafar Ali deliver a hit with Gaman with Farooq Sheikh and a soundtrack with songs sung by then ‘lesser’ singers like Suresh Wadkar and Hariharan. On Ali’s next film, Umrao Jaan, he was to initially repeat Jaidev. It had been agreed to have Madhurani as the voice for the chanteuse. But things changed the moment Rekha was cast in the lead. After that, Ali was persuaded that he should have Asha Bhosle as the voice of Rekha. Jaidev considered that a betrayal of Madhurani and disagreed. Ali fired him from the project and hired Khaiyyam and the rest is history.
So, what is different now if the formula has always been the same, that once a film reaches a certain size and ambition, there is always pressure to make it a star vehicle? The difference lies in the star quality itself. Not having Madhurani perform playback for Umrao Jaan deprived the audience of something ‘different’ but not something better. I have heard Madhurani’s songs and it is very difficult to make the case that the film was brought down in quality by having Asha sing In Ankhon Ki Masti or Dil Cheez.
This quality had already begun to fade by the end of the 80s as the original personalities who had made Bollywood great began to get old/die/fade away as applicable. But they could still paper over with it with talented new arrivals like SRK or Aamir.
By the 2010s, this had become unsustainable because the star kids don’t have the quality anymore nor are the established stars so overwhelmingly better than outsider newcomers. Only Aamir is still fresh among the three Khans. And secondly, as I said in another post, the star kids of today don’t have the strong cultural connect with the Hindi medium that the previous ones had and look less convincing playing the part. That is why the audience now senses these starkids are being thrust on them through the publicity blitz you mentioned. They have revolted several times by voting with their feet. But the network is too strong so a flop actor like Arjun will nevertheless still keep getting meaty roles.
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Karthik
June 26, 2020
Thanks, BR and Anu.
I agree with the argument about economics and about people’s preferences driving a lot of these choices. I’ll just add that with Karan Johar, he himself seems star struck (for lack of better word) and that also shapes his decision making.
But I have seen the numbers on those pieces. They are my SONCHIRIYAs 🙂
Well, your Sonchiriyas “will always have WordPress!”
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Aman Basha
June 26, 2020
@AnuWarrier: More than that, it was SRK who really changed these award shows into an overseas concert extravaganza for NRIs. The approach raked quite the moolah and has stuck ever since. The whole entertainment aspect overshadowed the actual awards.
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Anu Warrier
June 26, 2020
the star kids of today don’t have the strong cultural connect with the Hindi medium that the previous ones had
If you look at previous film ‘dynasties’, you found them all ‘connected’ to the Indian milieu, even if they played urban characters like, say, Shammi and Joy Mukherjee did. They were still people that urban youth could identify with, and that small-town India could aspire to. They sounded like ‘us’. Today’s young lot, with their designer clothes, their accents, their whole ‘look’ don’t seem like they belong even in a metropolis.
Everything is perfection – where’s the emotion, though? It’s like only hearing songs which have been auto-tuned. Singers like Mukesh would never have made it to the top today. Which is why I have a huge admiration for actresses like Bhumi, VIdya, Taapsee, Radhika (both Apte and Madan), Kangana (as an actress), etc., because they are not Barbie dolls who look like they have been churned out of a mould.
Bhumi, especially, because her choices have been extremely different, and very, very brave. There’s not a single star kid among the present female lot, except for Alia, who have shown they have what it takes to deserve their place in the sun.
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Kaushik Bhattacharya
June 29, 2020
@Madan – “Not we as in the regular participants of this blog because I don’t think most of us watched Judwa 2 on any platform, let alone theater.”
I would disagree vehemently. Have you (with your friends and family) actively dissed people for watching a Judwaa 2 over a Sonchiriya? Being complicit is not just about personal actions but about what you don’t do as well. Just as in the ongoing racism debate, remaining silent is being complicit.
And it’s not just about Madan. All of us clearly have the time to read BR’s posts and the comments and participate so we have as much of a duty to ACTIVELY promote the films and actors we think are good and ACTIVELY diss the ones that are trash. Otherwise we have no right to complain about nepotism. And we are complicit.
Ultimately, it is all about the commercial nature of the industry. If Arjun Kapoor’s films didn’t get beyond the first weekend (as most of them don’t deserve to), there is no way he will get films. BR mentioned Panipat’s BO figures. Half Girlfriend made nearly 20x the money that Sonchiriya did. The mind boggles.
Like in life, we get the films (and actors/stars) we deserve. We here being society at large.
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Madan
June 30, 2020
” Have you (with your friends and family) actively dissed people for watching a Judwaa 2 over a Sonchiriya? Being complicit is not just about personal actions but about what you don’t do as well. Just as in the ongoing racism debate, remaining silent is being complicit.” – I am sorry but that’s a terrible conflation. It is an art form and I would be presuming to tell people what they should watch if I actively diss Judwa 2. I cannot do that. I CAN talk loudly about nepotism and make people aware of what it is that they are enabling when they help such films succeed. Which is what I am doing here and which I have done before. But I am not going to step beyond that and seek social justice policing of films, I won’t go there. I have done my part by not watching mediocre products driven purely with star name. I am not going to barge into theaters and tell people they are stupid for watching Judwa 2; that would be incredibly obnoxious among other things.
As for Panipat, sorry, I don’t agree with BR there. I didn’t voice my disagreement then because this discussion has gone on long enough by now. But given the strong sentiment in favour of biopics that glorify Hindu samrats of yore with every film on the subject being a bumper box office hit, Panipat should have been a slam dunk. Tanaji was, coming close on the heels of Panipat. The fact that Panipat managed 49 cr then owes much more to the subject matter than Arjun Kapoor’s star wattage. Rather, even donning Sadhashiv Rao’s identity could not save Arjun Kapoor in this case.
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Anu Warrier
June 30, 2020
@Kaushik – I agree with Madan here. Art is a subjective choice. Don’t want to watch something? Don’t. But please don’t be obnoxious about what others watch/want to watch. I might hate a ‘good’ film because it doesn’t connect with me. And I really don’t want anyone telling me what I should like/dislike, and for that very reason, I won’t tell anyone that either.
I won’t lecture anyone about nepotism either simply because, I’ll watch good actors any time, irrespective of their lineage or lack thereof. I am not going to stop watch Aamir Khan or Alia because they are star kids. I won’t watch Tushar Kapoor or Arjun Kapoor because they are bad actors, not because they happen to be from film families.
Strive for a more equitable casting process, if you will. I’m all for transparency in the casting process, auditions that are more accessible, a talent pool that will give us better actors…
And yes, I agree with you that watching good movies and promoting that content would be a good thing to do. And I do that on a regular basis to friends who ask me for recommendations.
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RAJESH K
July 1, 2020
Exaggarated but makes lot of sense
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Isai
July 3, 2020
“In this closed world of deal-making and wheels within wheels, arbitrarily elevating or demoting someone was a piece of toast. There existed a tacit understanding between all the players to close ranks and diminish whosoever was the target. With the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput, it is this can of worms that has been opened.”
https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/after-sushant-singh-rajputs-loss-bollywood-ripped-wide-open-by-shobhaa-de-2255771?amp=1&akamai-rum=off
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An Jo
July 4, 2020
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
July 4, 2020
Much has been said, but the argument that nepotism is a direct result of what public pays to watch, the hypocrisy argument bothers me. While there is truth to that, its much more than just that.
The big production houses are more talent agencies than film making businesses. In a capricious, high cost of capital and unorganized industry with tightly controlled downstream channels you need a story and image to sell every other week and a talent pool you have access (read as control) to. This story, of star kids or only certain people having the BO draw has to be sustained with a PR campaign,and media houses take it to the public and a vicious cycle feeds itself. How else do you sell the distribution/ theatrical rights every other week successfully? Humans react to these stories and overtime believe them to be true.
The alternative to this business setting would be for producers like Karan Johar to actually put in the effort and make good films and risk it at the Box Office. Some of that happens once in a while too. I remember sometime back Varun Dhawan said the one advice he would give Alia is to raise her fees. To put things in perspective, most of her film productions are Dharma or involve them in some capacity.
When an outsider breaks in with a massive commercial hit and for some reason is not amenable, there is every incentive to show them as a non bankable star at the B,O. The story of who sells, and who wields that control needs to sustain. Some of the blinds on Sushant accused him of sexually harassing Sanjana Sanghi on the sets of Dil Bechara.
Although Sonchidiya has been mentioned umpteen times, that was not the film that defined Sushant’s filmography. Arguably, he gave far more “mainstream” hits than other newcomers including Kartik Aryan whose successes all belonged to the chauvinistic Punchnama series till 2019.
With the exception of Sonchidiya, most of SSR’s films did well to varying degrees, so public did watch his movies. Take for instance, Raabta, the big dud, this film made close to 35Cr and came close to its production costs. The story was based on a trite re-incarnation theme and it didn’t even have Marathi pride/ nationalism to lend a helping hand like in Arjun Kapoor’s Panipat,
Bollywood can obfuscate and continue to stonewall any meaningful conversation, all I can say is that some part of the Bollywood fan in me has gone forever with Sushant’ s demise.
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Madan
July 4, 2020
“This story, of star kids or only certain people having the BO draw has to be sustained with a PR campaign,and media houses take it to the public and a vicious cycle feeds itself. ” – It basically works like the pop music industry. The music labels decide who you get to listen to on the charts in the first place. It is they who promote certain artists heavily and make sure they occupy maximum airtime. And then, when as a result of this PR overdrive, the artists chart at the top, they, including critics, will ‘blame’ the listeners for making these artists popular. They go to ridiculous lengths to prop up this narrative. There’s a video doing the rounds on YT about how Appetite for Destruction ‘organically’ became a classic one year after it originally released and failed to make a dent. And I am like, dude, how many bands would get the benefit of doubt for one year from the industry and get a massive touring budget after delivering a dud? It’s so easy to tell when the industry has decided to ‘make’ an artist come what may and they will pull out all stops before they give up and yet they parade a rosy narrative which is all too easily accepted.
Because I am well acquainted by now with how the pop music industry operates and recognise the similarities between it and Bollywood, I am less upset about the SSR tragedy. These things happen again and again in showbiz, won’t be the last time. But yes, I can totally see why this will be a very disillusioning event for many movie lovers.
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theartofexpressions
July 11, 2020
It’s very naive and easy to blame it on the audience when you don’t understand marketing.
If KJO and likes of him, keep promoting star kids even before a movie gets released. Then that creates a buzz. It’s a whole system of media and film industry and KJO is master at that.
Why does Alia gets promoted so that she gets every movie even with Bhansali or Rajoumouli.
Look at the case of Ananya, she gets heavily promoted.
Blaming the audience may be true if PR wouldn’t have existed.
BR – you don’t know about blind items so then how can you understand what actually happened (not saying I understand it completely) but I am aware of those blind items which Masand wrote. So first go through that.
Go through every article that was written about SSR post making of drive and you will find something.
Why there were so many blind items against SSR when everything turns out to be false. He was blamed even in me too and for Kedarnath, shooting blind items suggested he had a rift with the director.
per your saying the only drive got released in 2017-2018.. and that’s why kjo and ssr had a fallout and that’s when blind item started.
You guys are basically like people blaming voters for voting for namo.. when you all know namo does better marketing than other rivals. (though in politics, rivals have enough connections and money to do so, while here outsiders don’t).
When there is fire, there is smoke. Why nepotism is the keyword since KJO became a master. You guys are ignoring these because kangana and other people hijacked the issue here.
I am not saying kjo or yrf killed him, but he was def bullied through negative PR and media.
SSR’s ex PR writes about he was beyond that.. then why SSR left his pr if his pr was good.
Don’t you think KJO will have power over spice PR. Why there are articles suggesting kjo is suffering now. In lockdown how any journalist got access.
Please just don’t believe every mainstream news article that you read but see the pattern.
Its the same thing when URI released during election, ofcourse there is no proof that it was planned but see the pattern and see that how namo uses Bollywood to influence people and you will realize there has to be some planning.
Anyways you and me very small fish.
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brangan
July 11, 2020
theartofexpressions: I don’t think we are blaming ONLY the audience. The point was that everyone is complicit in this vicious cycle, which makes it harder for newcomers to break in.
Also: When there is fire, there is smoke.
I have never subscribed to this theory. I know of an excellent filmmaker whose career was flushed down the toilet due to smoke that came where there was no fire.
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Jai
July 11, 2020
BR, I get what you are saying about the audience’s responsibility. Yes, we as consumers, do have a choice and indirectly, by patronizing movies featuring mediocrities, we are in some way, perpetuating the flawed system which enables them to thrive….or at least survive….despite their lack of talent.
But it is worthwhile examining how much of this “choice” is actually available. As you yourself said in your comment above : ” I got a great insight from a producer a few years ago. He said apart from the big cities, no one cares about the director or subject or whatever. They decide to watch a movie solely on the basis on whether they know the face on the poster.
In other words, the more a face is “fed” to them on TV or on media, the more familiar that face becomes. ”
It’s obvious that to a large degree, the “choice” is itself being skewed/loaded unfairly in the star kids’ favor. When the system veers towards a non-competitive Plutocracy/Oligopoly of sorts, is a choice really being given? When their faces are the ones being consistently and relentlessly being “fed” to the audience, isn’t the familiarity factor being showed down our throats whether we prefer it to be that way or not?
For instance, there was justifiable disdain and negative blowback on that Vogue cover where Shweta Bachchan and Navya featured along with Jaya Bachchan. Did Vogue ever attempt a study of whether sales of that issue justified the flagrantly nepotistic call that was made? I mean, I for one can’t believe that many people are interested in knowing about Shweta (ever) or Navya (yet, perhaps never). Was a marketing study comparing sales of that issue with those of the previous months done?
I for one, would much rather read much more about Tripti Dimri than about Sonam Kapoor, for example. She can act more in a single glance, than Sonam can in an entire film. But are we going to be given that choice? Or will the current plaudits of her performance in Bulbull be gradually drowned out, by recaps of Sonam’s “Cannes looks”, or her “baring her heart” interviews on how much she suffered, for being called out for her problematic views on karma and nepotism?
Again, what justifies film reviewers like Rajeev Masand of all people, writing blind articles making crass insinuations about actors like Sushant? Isn’t there a conflict of interest involved here?
It’s a classic chicken and egg situation here. Audience attitudes do determine choice of media subjects, but are very much shaped by media portrayals. Both need to be overhauled.
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Madan
July 11, 2020
” Audience attitudes do determine choice of media subjects, but are very much shaped by media portrayals. Both need to be overhauled.” – And if the evidence of showbiz says something, it is that it will simply not happen. The simple fact is that if they wrote articles only about lesser known and non-nepot actors, people would complain the writers are being ‘elitist’. Not in this space, sure, but this space itself is different and very niche, which is the only level at which that kind of discussion seems to work. Kangana has made the masses conscious about these subjects by weaponizing the rhetoric around nepotism but one has to see how long it really lasts.
It was either Noel or Liam Gallagher who said, “If you’re not on the charts, you don’t exist”. Obnoxious but not untrue, sadly.
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Aman Basha
July 11, 2020
@Jai: I still don’t feel compelled to tell the audience promotes mediocrity and it’s often a lame way of film makers trying to appropriate the higher moral ground. I don’t think we’re even talking about Sonchiriya, which Sushant, on record, said he knew would not work at the box office yet had only done as a way of artistic fulfillment. Seriously, can you imagine the average movie goer who doesn’t have the time, money or resources to search for emotional fulfillment and all from cinema and mostly goes with friends or families to theaters, even think about an adult drama in a different language?(they went in droves to watch Chichore though) The appreciation the movie is getting is due to OTT, where so many different niche movies are getting acclaim and the big Bollywood studio loads off films that are finished as a cut and paste job unlike an Anushka Sharma who gives a Pataal Lok.
Bhai fans, who are often the most trolled and sneered upon, too can differentiate between good and bad films. Otherwise a Tubelight, Dabangg 3, Race 3 or Jai Ho would have been 300 crore earners. Even Salman makes films for friends and family, but nowhere is the publicity as huge as Dharma’s next launch and the man himself is no product of nepotism, having worked his way up. The audience always has a special affection for self made people who are our biggest stars. Also, in this annoying trend of big budget historicals everyone’s racing to make and KJo said in your interview long ago is the next big thing, how many films apart from Bhansali’s and a Tanhaji have been successful? The audience has once made films like Gadar, Lagaan and K3G blockbusters in the same year. They can take some variety.
As for Sonam Kapoor, there is no other explanation but karma for it must be some sin of the audience that is being punished by her status as a leading actress with more demand than even a Parineeti Chopra.
It’s truly a shame when critics who are supposed to be nourishing and championing art, end up writing gratuitous blind items about actors and stars. I’d have a doubt if Kangana or some dubious person like KRK said it, but when Manoj Bajpayee himself says it, the credibility of the entire media system which informs, shapes and plays with the public consciousness is lost and it’s clear that the audience is patronizing mediocrity but was duped by a con into accepting mediocrity.
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rsylviana
July 11, 2020
@BR & Anu – Aren’t you guys being a little convenient and picking up Sonchiriya than Chhichhore for making your points ? The former was a serious film and serious films tend to make less money than fun and upbeat ones because people would rather be happy than sad right?! Google tells me that Sonchiriya’s theoretical twin Udta Punjab(for all its stars)made less money than Student of the Year .But Chhichhore which had almost nonexistent promotions became a superhit majorly due to the positive word of mouth by the audience and critics. So I’m not sure that we can blame the audience here. If we are talking about someone like Nasserudin Shah / Nawazzudin Siddique whose forte is serious roles & films then maybe it would holdup but SSR was someone who could topline both serious and fun films effortlessly and the guy also looked like someone who could fit into the metrosexual man-mould comfortably. Maybe that’s why he didn’t sit well with the higher powers that be?!
Another reason I feel that the southern industry is a bit better in these sort of things is because of our lack of paparazzi and PR culture. Even the most rabid fans of Vijay-Ajith don’t seem to be staking out at their stars’ residences or following their kids’ around like hawks. Whereas in Bollywood its almost wearying trying to wade through the sea of news items covering each of the stars’ afflictions and fetishes on a daily basis when all you wanted to know was how good the recently released movie/music was.I don’t follow Sara Ali Khan on social media and the only videos I have seen of her is the KWK promos of her episode and the Sweetheart song from Kedarnath but even I know that Sara is considered as the “star kid with the right attitude”. How? Such posts/articles/comments can be seen everywhere if you follow anything even remotely related to Bollywood or Indian cinema in general.I don’t know what does “right attitude” mean here and what exactly did Sara do that was so different than other star-kids but its almost impossible to not be bombarded with such glorifying bits of information about these star-kids in social media. I’m just hoping that this trend doesn’t trickle down south since we already have our hands full with all the star-wars that goes on here endlessly.
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Doba
July 11, 2020
-Jai and Rsylvania,
After the post by BR about market economics favouring star kids, I ran a very basic web crawler algorithm (I know, I was very jobless that night 🙂 ) for Sara Ali Khan. I noticed a steady state number of news items on her during most of the year with a huge uptick as it approached the release time of her movie (Love Aaj Kal 2). I cancelled out the movie title name in the algorithm so that it would pick up on news items which didn’t mention the movie so that it does not fall under movie release information. Again, the same pattern is seen. Evidence, therefore, clearly points to increase in PR output (not reader interest) during release. This suggests that it is definitely NOT purely market economics at play. I was initially planning a long rebuttal piece full of stats and figures 🙂 . But then thought, whats the point and dropped it. Plus, I know next to nothing about the movie industry except what I read on this blog and the headlines that show up on the major news websites.
But it seems to me, as Jai points out, that this is classic oligarchy where the rich kids (often star kids) pay to be constantly in the public eye and then turn around and claim the monetary benefits of the same process by getting plum roles and opportunities.
The media, who should be doing these studies instead of lay people like me, are happy to be facilitators and reap the benefits of keeping the oligarchy running. Those in positions of power and influence are going to continue what they do if nobody questions them. It would be irrational on their part to do otherwise.
Does the art form suffer because of it? I am not qualified to say anything about that.
But when Sairat (a movie very very close to me) was remade with Jahnvi Kapoor, I felt angry. Now Jahnvi may be more intelligent and aware than her cousin Sonam Kapoor. But then again, she might not. How does a person from her background get cast in such a role? She has no lived experience of that reality, no sensitivity about the issue (if she is at all like Sonam) and has not demonstrated any acting chops to justify the selection. It just feels like the makers didn’t care.
Again, they don’t HAVE to care. If everything (for them) comes down to a business decision, thats fine. Nobody is stopping them from enjoying the monetary benefits. But then, they cannot complain when (some, perhaps very few) people on Twitter or whatever criticise them? The digital penetration in India is still fairly low. Why should they care about what few folks think about them?
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Ramit
July 12, 2020
“[Jhanvi] has no lived experience of that reality, … to justify the selection.”
Did Rinku Rajguru, who played Archi in Sairat, have any lived experience of that reality to justify the selection? Do actors really need to have ‘lived experience’ of the character they are trying to portray?
Though, Doba, I agree with you when you imply that if the casting in Dhadak was done in a fair manner (auditions and all) then Jhanvi and Ishaan won’t have had a chance.
I am also with you on the nepotism angle. Your one jobless night has led into our insights 🙂
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brangan
July 12, 2020
https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/insider-outsider-nepotism-bollywood-actors-sushant-singh-rajput-death-6501023/
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Madan
July 12, 2020
” How does a person from her background get cast in such a role? She has no lived experience of that reality, no sensitivity about the issue (if she is at all like Sonam) and has not demonstrated any acting chops to justify the selection.” – Agree with Ramit. I only care about acting chops from that list. Further, Rinku was cast in that role because the director was from the same village as her and knew her. Lastly, Rinku’s character is a middle caste (Patil) so it’s not insanely difficult to replicate the lived experience of the character. They – she and Thosar – are both from lower castes.
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Doba
July 12, 2020
Do actors really need to have ‘lived experience’ of the character they are trying to portray?
Yeah, you guys may be right, Ramit and Madan.
I am coming from a perhaps bookish point of view. A famous observation (or criticism) of Austen is that she does not have even a single conversation between two men alone. Similarly, Doystoevsky (my all time time favourite) who writes the most amazing men seems to have written very flat women. Gone with the wind and To Kill a Mockingbird don’t have any complexity in their black characters. Christie reserves all the nuances of characterisation to the lords and ladies in the manors while the servants are either crafty or devoted. Same goes for Kipling and his Indian characters. All these otherwise sharp writers seem to focus their lens on those who interest them or belong to the same milieu and don’t seem to see the same full range of complexity in those that don’t. Of course, there are the grand exceptions. I think Tolstoy wrote women better than any other woman writer. Same with Tagore but he couldn’t bridge caste as well as gender.
Perhaps, the same is not true for acting. But wouldn’t it take someone gifted to do so? How do they prove that they are gifted from the get go?
Full confession – I have not watched Dhadak. I was basing my comments on some of the comments I read below Dhadak’s review. If MANK is reading this, I hope he won’t mind my quoting his comments directly below –
“obviously none of this make any sense to KJo and his camp directors.the reasons for remaking Sairat has nothing to do with any of these artistic virtues of the film. just one and only one , that Sairat was a blockbuster and being a remake of that film, a certain amount of publicity and audience is assured. you throw in couple of star kids, particularly Sridevi’s daughter in to the mix , boom you have even more of that. the rest of the plan is to send the newly minted couple to every mall, every chowk to give live performances in the name of publicity, then carpet bomb the multiplexes , some BO manipulation and you get a 80 to 100 cr hit safely .Mission accomplished for KJo.”
“But the biggest virtue of that film for me is the amount of verisimilitude that was achieved by the filmmaker by setting the film in real locations and casting raw and ‘unknown’ actors, particularly the lead actress , whom a) one can instantly believe would belong to that milieu and b) who can make us believe the suffering – both physical and emotional- they are going through.. the moment you cast star kids who have been well groomed and carefully prepared for stardom right since their childhood, that goes out of the window immediately.Instead of realism , we get superficiality in every aspect of the film. “
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Ramit
July 12, 2020
@Doba, I think Jhanvi’s casting in Dhadak wasn’t really off the mark. She has lived a privileged life, the way that character has in Dhadak. So, when she runs away against her parents’ wishes, and lives a hidden, fearful, clueless life, it was totally believable for me. It was some directorial choices and, as BR sir said, the blandness of the movie that put me off, not really the acting.
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Madan
July 12, 2020
“But wouldn’t it take someone gifted to do so? How do they prove that they are gifted from the get go?” – Yes, but this is a different discussion from ‘lived experience’. Gary Oldman has been Dracula, Churchill, George Smiley, Lt Gordon, down to the appropriate accents. For a gifted actor, the sky is the limit. But how to identify the gift? Audition. Like, really audition. And then the actor’s preparation for the role should include getting familiar with the mileu. For Hollywood, that is the norm in at least any film based on a serious theme. In India, only those passionate about cinema go to these lengths. Wonder what that says about the rest. Guess they get so consumed by the show-sha that even the process of acting or making a film is pure make believe show-sha for them without commitment to the material. It has improved now, if we take the long view. It was unheard-of to even discuss about an actor preparing for a role at one point, unless you were talking about parallel cinema. We have come a long way from there and yet there is a basic superficiality about Bollywood that refuses to go away and that is what is reflected in how they went about the remake of Sairat. And here, I don’t exempt the audience from this superficiality. If you DID make a Hindi film with the earthiness of a Sairat, I bet it doesn’t run well. The audience willingly adapt to the modes of each cinema subculture and don’t tolerate attempts to depart from the norm too well (unless these attempts are modest), but how do you revolutionize the medium unless you ARE allowed to experiment?
Couple of folks I know (not the ones here) from the North who have a good appreciation for world cinema. But I once described the sequence in Aboorva Sagotharargal where the mother tells the dwarf the story behind why he was born the way he was and the ones who killed his father, cutting to a quick frame of a clown laughing in an evil tone with a quietly menacing BGM theme. And they laughed at it as typical South cinema (nevermind no other film, at least in Tamil, was made in the face of the enormous technical difficulties the project involved) WITHOUT even seeing the scene. Mind, I am talking about people from the ‘open minded’ spectrum of Indian cinema lovers. But they do find it easier to be open minded about a film in a non Indian and non English language than our own regional cinema. Until we can allow these sub cultures to inter mingle and influence each other (which ironically used to happen more in the 60s than it does today), our cinema is going to be relatively stagnant. In that regard, the myopia reflected by KJ in what he says, upsetting as it may be, is not necessarily a North Pole from the audience’s mindset.
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Jai
July 13, 2020
@ Doba, very interesting use of a web crawler algorithm. 😀 And you really should write that piece with stats et al. Would be a good read.
I think the film industry oligarchs are fairly brazen about the fact that they use massive PR drives and planted articles to generate buzz. Boney Kapoor, for example, was on record cribbing that Jhanvi’s PR team weren’t able to generate as much publicity for her, as Sara’s team was able to garner.
See, I get the fact that getting rid of nepotism as a whole isn’t going to be possible. People will always favour their own kids and other relatives- at a fundamental level, it’s hard wired in our genes anyway. And yes, the film industry is not the only one that features this.
But surely, passive/aggressive bullying and hostility to those outside this charmed circle – that deserves to be called out. Bullying/Ragging/Hazing- call it what you will – has been criminalised in a variety of settings, from colleges to workplaces. Now, just to take a random example, getting Kjo or Alia actually to face any legal consequences for their casual and elitist cruelty isn’t going to be possible or maybe even required. There is always the “I just meant it as a joke” defence. But at least, could the fact that it’s been highlighted in this outrage as something “not funny”, would give pause for thought later? If a realisation builds in that it’s not OK to sneer at someone much less powerful than oneself in the guise of a joke, isn’t that to the good?
I admire KJo for a lot of other things, but it’s odd that he – having encountered sniggers and nasty insinuations for his choices his whole life- is so cool with making snide asides and stinging set downs on his show, mostly aimed at those who can’t snap back. Isn’t one of the key elements of sarcastic humour, the fact that it should be punching up and not down??
If his show does come back on air, I would hope he makes sarcastic jokes about how terribly tepid the likes of Arjun Kapoor, Harsh & Sonam, and Aditya Roy Kapur are. Why not a question about “which of the following, in the order of 1 to 5, would never have made more than a single film without family connections?” 😀
And @BR – just to take off on your post about individual responsibilities as an audience – I have resolved never again to read or watch a Rajeev Masand film review, ever again. I’m just not comfortable reading reviews from a person who also writes cowardly and crass “blind items”. I’ve been racking my head trying to think of any valid reason why he would do this, but there is absolutely nothing which justifies this unprofessional stance. And yes, I won’t be watching Takht — apart from being KJo’s ode to his inner-circle connections, I’m sure he would be utterly butchering history, which was one of my favourite subjects. I was never going to watch Gunjan Saxena anyway.
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Anu Warrier
July 13, 2020
rsylvania – Sonchiriya was the latest release, and hence that became the example. Other than Kai Po Che and Chichore, I’m hard put to think of one Sushant Singh Rajput film that created a buzz at the box office. And yet, I’ve liked him in the films that I have watched of his – Shudh Desi Romance, for example, and Sonchiriya, of course.
My larger point in saying we are complicit is that – as Madan points out – a truly earthy Sairat would have been consigned to ‘serious’ film if made in Hindi and met with the same fate as Sonchiriya. Why is it that the really good Malayalam movies, for instance, are never made into Hindi, or if they are, they are butchered beyond belief? Why is it that it is the silliest films from Tamil and Telugu that are remade successfully in Hindi? You won’t catch Visaranai or Mahanadi being remade. Instead, what you will get is the Rowdy Rathode and the nth Himmatwala knock-off.
Why did Naseer ‘betray’ the parallel cinema movement and move to making absolutely abysmal films in the mainstream? We are perfectly happy anointing them ‘great actors’ but do not reward them by watching their movies. And forgive me for being cynical – how many of these people whose hearts now bleed for SSR actually watched his movies when he was alive? It’s not like KJo has the power to stop audiences from coming to the theatres or that he has any intent actually in doing so. KJo is a convenient scapegoat for the industry ills.
As for the media – I worked in it. Thankfully, before the ratings game began. Yes, the media is pushed by clicks and TRPs. Sure, it’s consumerist. But again – why does the media focus on little Taimur Ali Khan? Not because his parents have a PR for him but because there are consumers out there who eagerly wait yet another snippet on the toddler. Sara Ali Khan had a social media following before she even stepped into movies. And her PR team harnessed those followers once she did. These are symbiotic relationships.
I, for one, regret the period that brought the ‘fan club’ culture into Kerala from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Until the 2Ms, no previous Malayalam star had one – they had fans, yes. But the toxic culture that follows fan clubs didn’t exist. Even the 2 Ms didn’t have fan clubs in their heyday as heroes. And while we have our yellow rag – Nana, which Malayalis will recognise, we don’t have as much of a papparazzi culture either. Hopefully, we will continue to keep that at bay. But star sons and daughters and the kids of other industry insiders will continue to find work in these industries. It’s the very nature of the beast. And talent-less ‘actors’ will continue to find work – I, for one, have never comprehended Sankar’s success as ‘hero’ in the 80s. Especially when we had the 2 Ms at the same time.
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HAA
July 13, 2020
I have been reading the comments on this post and rather than wrote one about what I agree with or speculate further, I would simply like to write my personal reaction to this event.
When I first heard the news, disbelief was my initial reaction. Followed by a sense of having missed something and thoughts for his family who survive and will live with this event till the end of their days.
I first heard of Sushant from his serial Pavitra Rishta and perhaps it being a Balaji show and him being a goodie 2 shoes character I just let it pass. I was aware he made the shift to films but only got around to watching him in PK, Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and Raabta. I liked him as Byomkesh but the movie felt a bit tedious. Raabta I checked out because I was aware of Magadheera and I was curious to see if they had aped it. The story felt weak though the movie began well.
The rumours about him found their way to forums I trawled from time to time on TV shows and blogs about his attitude and walking away from his longtime girlfriend with a majority consensus of “no smoke without fire”. The fame seems to have got to him was general consensus. I lost track and then he again registered when Kedarnath released. Online, there were tons of interviews with the film’s lead female actor in the run up to release. I was sold on watching the movie when they dropped the Namo Namo song on YouTube. The visuals were stunning as was Amit Trivedi’s music.
Life got in the way. I am severely backlogged with my movie watching anyways. The Drive trailer was the last thing I recall seeing on social media and I was like “urgh! no way!”. I was blissfully unaware of blinds, rumours and any such news post Kedarnath.
Finally, I ended up watching Kedarnath, Chichchore, Kai Po Che and MS Dhoni only after this news hit. And I wished I had watched it earlier. I may have had a chance to drop in a good word online.
I saw interviews with Faridoon and Algebra Conversations as well as Gattu Kapoor’s interview and tried to calm this ajeeb restlessness I felt. I watched Qarib Qarib Single, discovered Dale Bhagwagar and the world of PR and a bunch of actors I will keep an eye out for.
I watched videos shared by Brut India of Saroj Khan, Jagdeep Saheb and Kader Khan and listened to their views about co-workers, appreciating good work and being humane and looking beyond the glitter and show-sha.
In the midst of this churning I listened to songs from all his movies (except Drive), Jaan Nisaar multiple times, and for some reason recalled the movie “Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai” starring Jackie Shroff and Abhishek Bhachchan. Public persona management, manipulating public emotions, leveraging the media are themes in that movie as well.
I loved the eulogy that Netflix India wrote him in the aftermath.
After a fait bit of churning and a few loops of Rahman’s music in Dil Bechara, I have settled on 1) being even more conscious and aware of my online surfing and clicks than I currently am, 2) take this as a point wherein I start cultivating a habit to appreciate good work (in real life to people’s faces and online when I can) 3) thought about the online platforms’ need to remove friction in customer experience via YT autoplay, recommended for you in Prime, Netflix and continue to not be too bogged down by what the world is watching and liking 4) continue to curate my movie watching experience basis my own instinct or the feedback of those that I feel are aligned to my preferences 5) explore more regional language movies (I am thinking of starting with Prawaas a Marathi movie starring Ashok Saraf) 6) remind myself that all people, celebrities and humans alike, have a public and private persona 7) try and be more human and empathetic in my actions 8) treat cinema for what it is – entertainment, an escape from the humdrum of my life on most days, a tool that provokes me to think on some days 9) never forget to remind folks that celebrities are there to entertain us not necessarily become our role models for life. I would rather look closer home for that.
These stars should be like their celestial counterparts, shiny, a bit distant, slightly aloof and eventually just a big ball of gas. Some of the big stars have lost a bit of their sheen for me hereon. They are part of the system and unless they start trying to make a difference by encouraging deserving candidates, it is the cinema industry that will suffer and ultimately the quality of content available for me to watch.
I will remember Sushant as the actor who entertained me via his movies. I will remember him as Ishaan, Byomkesh, Sarfaraz, Mansoor, Dhoni, Shiv, Jilaan and Anni.
As an individual, he will remind me to never give up on your passion and dreams, work hard, work to excel, live your life the way you wish to, chalk up your ideas and thoughts even if others find it odd and to always hold your true friends close.
As Anand said, “Babumoshai, Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi…”
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An Jo
July 20, 2020
You go Kangs!!!!!!
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krishikari
July 20, 2020
@an jo This was astounding! First response I saw was Simi Garewal calling her brave and wishing she could have been as brave.
Unfortunately, the next thing that happened was fellow outsiders Swara and Taapsee lashing out at being called B grade! I thought she was complimenting them on being super talented and beautiful, but she also called them suck ups to the Bollywood mafia. Big mistake! Now the focus will be on that and not the huge accusations she made about abetment to suicide.
Crazy stuff!
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Aman Basha
July 20, 2020
@An Jo: There is a thin line between insanity and bravery. Does even Kangana know where she stands?
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Anu Warrier
July 20, 2020
@Krishikari – she wasn’t being complimentary at all – unless backhanded compliments are in. To call them ‘needy outsiders’ because they don’t agree with her view point, or ‘B-grade actresses sucking up to Karan Johar’ isn’t very complimentary. Even if she tries to leaven it by adding they are talented and beautiful.
Secondly, she herself admits she has never met SSR, doesn’t know him. They have ‘mutual friends’. So where does she get off claiming that SSR was murdered? Kangana inserting herself into another five minutes of fame via controversy is nothing new; this particular episode is just distasteful in that she’s using a man’s death to shoot off her own agenda.
@Aman, that’s something I’ve asked before. She makes bizarre accusations – she’s done it before in the case of Hrithik, but has never been able to back them up. In fact, in that case, when they tweeted a photograph of her with Hrithik which she alleged backed up her claim of an affair, Suzanne Roshan promptly tweeted the unedited version of that same photograph, which included her and many others in the frame.
It’s amazing to me that she lies through her teeth and gets away with it, because she is seen as ‘brave and gutsy’.
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brangan
July 20, 2020
Anu Warrier: I am with you. I find something very uneasy about the way this woman is being celebrated when she’s basically using a man’s death to… I don’t know what! It’s not just getting her five minutes of fame. There’s something deeper and more disturbing here. I’m glad Taapsee gave it back to her.
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Doba
July 20, 2020
Anu, I saw the video with Arnab. Now I have no idea what is true and what is a lie. But to harangue colleagues who have a different point of view is not cool by any means. I remember seeing her interview a few years ago where she seemed so different – more poised and articulate.
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Madan
July 20, 2020
Kangana is a circus thupaaki. When some actor said he was apolitical, she blasted him for not taking a stand and voicing it. But the thing is, if somebody did voice a stand and that happened to be a liberal one, she would blast that person too. Disagreeing is ok but that’s different and that’s not what she does. Her attacks are vicious.
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Srinivas R
July 20, 2020
Tapsee’s response was apt. To degrade someone just because they don’t agree with your hatred for someone else is just cheap.
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
July 20, 2020
Let’s all for a moment concur that Kangana is shooting over a dead man’s shoulder, haranguing her colleagues, is needy for “five minutes” of fame and, is crazy and not gutsy ,and move on. Taapsee can very well have the moral high ground here. None of this changes the one fact in this series of “he said/ she said/ what could have been” speculations – there was a mainstream film journalist, Rajeev Masand, who wrote a series of items targeting Sushant. Now, one can argue how much of this was “harmless gossip”, whether this was taken seriously by the actor, his peers and public or not.
What we do know for a fact are three other things:
One of those blind items in 2018 was written during the “me-too” movement and accused him of sexually harassing Sanjana Sanghi. No proof has been offered to substantiate this. Later, the same articles would target the director as the harasser and film’s release would be delayed for over 2 years.
Sushant in his defense released a series of his private chats with Sanjana on his twitter feed and fired his PR team
He did not sign any new movie for over 2 years since that incident
Bollywood’s so called “A-listers” have continued to give interviews to Masand over the past few weeks. The rest of the nation can stop celebrating Kangana the minute one among them calls Masand out.
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An Jo
July 20, 2020
@Anu/BR saab – To be fair to her, hasn’t Kangana spoken out about this before SSR’s death? She sat right across KJo and called him the flag-bearer of nepotism! I am not saying every word of hers is gospel but she has been making these noises well before anyone started making them! She might not come across as ‘polished’ as Tapsee or anyone else, but she raises valid points! And I don’t think she’s directly calling SSR’s death a murder but abetment. After taking on the might of KJo, Roshans, and the Bhatts, do you think she has any chance in the industry now? Will producers and distributors work with her? Unless she is so smart and cunning that she is thinking years ahead and wants to hob-nob in politics and join the government!
Look at this below – can you imagine someone like Gulzar ripping off an author, bullying a person out of Jaipur Lit Fest and creating hindrances in award functions just to get Meghna Gulzar some time to swallow credits: And to add insult to injury, change the climax of Raazi to appeal to a lobby?
I am still in shock that someone as erudite and talented as Gulzar can do this – I am still not willing to believe, but…
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krishikari
July 20, 2020
@anu @BR I do agree that dissing her colleagues was a big mistake and not cool at all. If any of what she said is true, they need to have some solidarity to make any kind of change.
I have no real axe to grind here, but I felt she was very convincing in that interview, as for not knowing SSR, she said he supported her on the nepotism controversy. Did he speak out on that subject?
I believe her motivation is to get back at this mafia she feels targeted her and others. She really believes it. Gaslighting, calling her unhinged and crazy is the game she is accusing the Bollywood mafia of doing and she certainly is a drama queen but I actually thought Karan Johar was the one who seemed unhinged and unreasonable in the LSE interview. Who is he to tell anyone to leave the industry? Some of the points she made were very fair and also funny. KJ’s kitty parties for instance.
If not for the tragic death this is all revolving around, this would be pure entertainment.
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krishikari
July 20, 2020
Actually I take that back, it should be entertainment but these are serious accusations and Kangana is not the only one making them. These dubious talent agencies, the contracts, the bullying, it is all being revealed as a very rotten system, nepotism is actually the least harmful part of it. You dismiss her bringing it up at this time as tasteless or suspect, but when is the right time?
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Jai
July 21, 2020
@ Aman, Anu, BR – Yeah, this video is – for lack of a more elegant term – nuts. As Anu said, Kangana has been like this right from her fracas with Hrithik days (perhaps even earlier). Only thing is, that fight got her a lot of frankly illogical support and admirers (despite the massive inconsistencies and fibs in her narrative) whereas she’s being looked more askance at now.
The only thing I have to say is, she is playing right into the establishment’s hands. Not only is she sounding completely illogical, she is making it so easy to sweep legitimate concerns and complaints by hijacking the whole argument in this ridiculous manner.
Sigh. Once again, nuance would go right out of the nearest window, as this becomes the next sordid episode in the Kangana versus KJo/Alia/”insiders in general” sniping war. Pity is, it’s possible to see how wrong both sides are.
@Anu – I would not say Taapsee is a suck up by any means. But I agree to a limited degree, with the statement that Swara Bhaskar is an activist by connections, instead of principle. (Though Kangana went too far as is her wont). Swara is usually very, very careful (in a cynical way), about whom she calls out and for what.
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Jai
July 21, 2020
@Nappinai – heartily agree. I find it Rajeev Masand’s role in this utterly unprofessional and unbecoming. It’s crass and cowardly that he was writing blind items like this, and a serious breach of ethics and conflict of interest with his role as a reviewer. And yes, it’s curious how none of the biggies have focused much on this. Perhaps there is a tacit understanding he wouldn’t train his cloak and dagger blind items at them. 🙄 Am never reading or watching a review by him again.
But I still feel Kangana is exploiting this tragedy to fire on all cylinders on her agenda, which would have the unfortunate effect of diverting attention from some very serious (and nuanced) arguments which others have been making. Now it would descend into “picking sides”. 😒
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brangan
July 21, 2020
Just because the film industry is in the public eye does not make it any different from other industries, Anurag said. “The film industry is more visible and written about in the newspapers, but it is no different from any other industry. A lot of people, outsiders and insiders, have done a lot of things to me as well in these 27 years but I have never needed their validation or acknowledgement. When the world appreciates you and your work, what difference does it make if two or three people do not? Why give so much power to someone, that their yes or no or a pat on the back from them defines our existence? One man’s praise is enough to keep you working,” he said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/anurag-kashyap-weighs-in-on-nepotism-debate-first-ask-which-actor-director-is-worst-behaved-made-supporting-cast-leave-films/story-Wo8iBtJd0eqFXay2Lnm8xL.html
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brangan
July 21, 2020
“Had you watched that film in a cinema hall, then neither would I have to be starstruck nor you’d be left screaming ‘nepotism, nepotism, nepotism’.”
Hahahaha. BURN!
https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/anurag-kashyap-tells-twitter-user-not-star-struck-audience-watched-films-theatre/
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Anu Warrier
July 21, 2020
Krishikari – as far as I know, Sushant has not spoken up about anything any time. Now, Kangana can believe she was targeted, and perhaps that’s true. No one denies the industry is harsh to outsiders. But she, of all people, has no leg to stand on there. Even if she now repudiates them (like she rewrites her narratives all the time) it is a fact that the House of Bhatts gave her a huge leg up in the industry. Anurag Basu may have discovered her, but without the Bhatts’ backing, she wouldn’t be where she is today. Some grace would have been welcome.
She lied through her teeth about Hrithik having an affair with her, and then couldn’t back it up with evidence – which she claimed she had. And in the meanwhile, her stories kept changing – first it was she sent emails to him, and of course he responded (but she didn’t have them on her machine); then it was someone hacked into her account and sent those emails; then it was Hrithik sent himself those emails by making a false account in her name. Oh yes, he also proposed to her in Paris.
Unfortunately for her, the man’s passport proved he hadn’t even been out of the country then, let alone in Paris. He gave his phone, laptop, tablet et al to the Cyber cell; her cell phone miraculously fell into the water, and the laptop died. Man! Hrithik’s guardian angels must have been working over time.
She’s lied about pretty much everything – from her parents to her life before she came into movies – it’s like she’s writing a script about her life. It isn’t difficult to believe there’s some deep-rooted problem – she’s a bit like Trump in that; everything is about her, and everyone is against her.
You dismiss her bringing it up at this time as tasteless or suspect, but when is the right time?
I don’t mind her bringing up nepotism – it’s a discussion that’s long overdue. But to use SSR’s death to fulfil what seems to be a personal vendetta accusing a lot of people for abetting his suicide is distasteful. To insult and denigrate colleagues who don’t share her opinion as B-grade or KJo’s chamchas is ungracious.
As far as I have followed her journey, she’s been a publicity hound. And now, with her connections, she is being given the platform(s) to spew her bile. [And this is Arnab ‘The Nation Wants to Know’ Goswami’ we are talking about.]
She’s succeeded in making SSR’s death All. About. Her. Congratulations to her. She will be feted, there will be many people who crown her the Queen of Frank Speech, and woe betide anyone who dares to suggest she might have a [couple of hundred] axe [s] to grind – we will also be decried as the flagbearers of nepotism, and KJo’s toadies. shrug
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Anu Warrier
July 21, 2020
@Jai – I agree she said that to KJo to his face, and I fully supported her saying so. I also gave KJo props for not editing that segment out. But it seemed to me, even then, that when she saw the press she got for that statement, she went to town with it. Was Karan wrong to say that she should get out of the industry if she couldn’t stand the heat? In my opinion, he was. Workplace cultures don’t change because people leave the workplace.
But as she went on and on and on about it, it began to look very orchestrated. And having seen her lie, get caught, lie some more, get caught again, double down on the lies, I began to look very closely at whats and whys of her statements.
On the way, as you say, she’s managed to garner a whole section of support. And now with her political affiliation, she has an army of such people to support her.
Two, it is not necessary that all outsiders have to feel they have been targeted / ganged up against. Taapsee made it on her own steam. Slowly, surely, and I’m quite certain, with great frustration. I still remember her interview with Anupama on FC where she said, ‘It’s taken me five years to reach this table; Jahnvi got a seat before the release of her first film.” She was very matter-of-fact about it. Honestly, I have greater respect for Taapsee than I do for Kangana, her immense talent notwithstanding. To denigrate your colleagues because you have an agenda they don’t support is not cricket.
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Anu Warrier
July 21, 2020
And from Taapsee – Perhaps Kangana can learn some grace from this girl.
On the question of not getting work, she said: “In the last three years, I have been doing at least four films every year, and have five announced films right now. Who says I don’t get enough work? I decided to keep my career graph slow and steady and that’s exactly how it’s been going. Yes, I’ve been dropped out of films and replaced with star kids but the fact that Kangana and her sister (Rangoli Chandel) try to discredit me and my hard work, call me names, put wrong allegations on me, is actually an equal level of harassment, if not more. All this because I refuse to sing her tune and because I refuse to see her as the flag bearer of outsiders because we all are not bitter people?”
(And this is a valid counter-allegation: Kangana and Rangoli have consistently put down Taapsee’s work and career; the latter even called her sasti Kangana – That’s not harrassment? Not bullying?)
On the subject of her equation with the industry and Kangana accusing her of being happy with it, Taapsee said:
“I refuse to be bitter. I refuse to take advantage of someone’s death for personal vendetta and I refuse to make mockery out of the industry that gave me bread and identity.”
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Aman Basha
July 21, 2020
@An Jo: At a time when the argument has a reasonable basis and everyone now agrees that awards should be more fair, that critics who write malicious blinds on stars should not be taken seriously (You might call it Kangana’s doing, but it was there online before only Kangana gave a boost to it and later Manoj Bajpayee confirmed it), star kids shouldn’t be pushed down the throat of the audience.
Kangana and Republic TV seem to be making it another issue of Right vs.. Left to whip Bollywood. She’s done this before multiple times, attacking Shabana Azmi of being anti national and even put up some hate tweet on the Tablighi Jamaat that was pulled down by Twitter. Even during the Jiah Khan suicide case, she supported Sooraj Pancholi and said depression is a real thing. It seems like a grudge against the Bhatts is driving all those comments against Alia and Gully Boy. She doesn’t seem fighting for what’s right and more settling old scores. It’s fascinating how none of her co stars or co workers have nothing nice to say about her, maybe she’s very anti social?
I’m not sure about what happened with Raazi but the author has also claimed that his film, Nanak Shah Fakir was denied entry to the Oscars by Bolly lobbyists whereas the films submitted in 2018 or 2015 (given the movie had release troubles) were Assamese and Marathi. He’s read out the email but didn’t show any screenshots of it as such, I believe?
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Anu Warrier
July 21, 2020
Sorry, part of my comment to Jai should have been addressed to An Jo. 😦 My apologies.
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krishikari
July 21, 2020
@anu You’re right, her political views are nasty, she has also done her share of bullying, Rebublic is the pits, etc. But somehow that interview struck a chord with me. It felt passionate and sincere to me. (I haven’t followed that whole Hritik case. yikes, that was all too much dirty laundry.)
As for Taapsee and Swara, I think they are both brilliant actors ( Thappad performance was outstanding and Rasbhari is sizzling, though the pace and other actors of that show made me quit watching) is Kangana really all that much more talented? No, only in her own mind. BUT, she puts herself out there, lashing out at her enemies and I kind of admire that kind of fearlessness.
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Anu Warrier
July 21, 2020
BUT, she puts herself out there, lashing out at her enemies and I kind of admire that kind of fearlessness.
I admire her talent. And I came to recognise it quite late because the dysfunctional characters she initially portrayed put me off (much like it took me time to warm up to Fahad Fasil). But her ‘fearlessness’ ? Not so much. Because yes, there’s speaking truth to power, and there’s vendetta, when no publicity is too much publicity. Usually, she times her controversies with a film’s release. This time around? Someone up there mentioned it as a long game – but I think there’s definitely an eye on politics, even if it may not be mainstream. The atmosphere is just right for people like her to whip up frenzy.
For the record, I can think of at least half a dozen actresses who are as – if not more – talented than Kangana in Hindi films.
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Anu Warrier
July 22, 2020
It’s interesting, isn;t it, that Kangana is now decrying the very system that she took advantage of? I wouldn’t mind so much if she admitted her privilege, because we all agree the industry needs a wake-up call; it’s the hypocrisy that I can’t stand:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/taapsee-pannu-shares-old-video-of-kangana-ranaut-defending-star-kids-and-their-privilege-takes-a-dig-at-her-watch/story-c3Vll0q0eGGx2JPmoSCQiK.html
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Madan
July 22, 2020
Anu Warrier: Kangana even denied casting couch, saying if you have talent, nobody will ever put you through that. Once MeToo started, she changed her tune. She and Arnab are made for each other.
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theartofexpressions
July 22, 2020
@rangan
If Kashyap is blaming audience now, then why he had so much angst against kjo, yrf at start of the career.
Since now he is part of the industry and established so now he blames audience.
Regrading tapsee, why tapsee is not raising the issue when she herself have said things against nepotism. If she speaks then some people won’t call/support kangana.
But she said, she have other priority..
Kangana has agenda, flaw etc but there is no body who is raising the issue.
Its like the dialogue of the dark knight
“Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.”
We want our heroes to be fair and we know nobody is fair and everybody has agenda.
And our fair heroes are silent.
Thats how BJP wins and then people like you hate people who vote for bjp and call them bhakt. Its a cycle.
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Anu Warrier
July 22, 2020
@Madan – yup. Then, her narrative was that she was strong, and no one would dare mess with her. Then #MeToo happened, and she was Victim #1 who courageously faced sexual harassment and assault. I still remember that round table where Deepika and Anushka had double takes listening to her. That’s why I’ve always taken her allegations with a pinch of salt.
I honestly didn’t mind the ‘flag-bearer of nepotism’ charge on KwK. It was light-hearted and KJo can take it as well as dish it out. But when the publicity began and she decided to anoint herself the Queen of anti-nepotism, then the narrative changed again.
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Anu Warrier
July 22, 2020
If Kashyap is blaming audience now, then why he had so much angst against kjo, yrf at start of the career.
He’s admitted that he was very envious of the reach they had, that he wanted his films also to be watched. If his films had been watched by the audience, he would be in a better position to make the films he wants to make.
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Aman Basha
July 22, 2020
@theartofexpressions: The more appropriate quote for Kangana is: “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”.
She started the fight for fairness, yet now seems to have fallen to the low of pursuing personal vendetta. This divisive approach is what is derailing a so far more nuanced argument.
Kashyap is speaking about nepotism in general, where he says he’s grown up enough to need be dependent on praise from certain people or the Bollywood clique. That’s essentially the approach of every outsider let it be Taapsee, Richa Chadda or even Aditi Rao in her recent interview, who’s easily the most gorgeous actress in Bolly right now. They’ve made their peace with the system, that doesn’t mean one can term them “needy outsiders” or “B-grade actresses”.
With her wild actions, she only hurts the argument and not help it.
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
July 24, 2020
I have followed this blog for few years and quite love most of what BR puts up. I also read the comments from the regulars here, again, very well written and nuanced. I was surprised to see some of the folks lose it over Kangana! There was a tinge of irony playing out – people who are usually articulate, writing in about how ‘undignified’ she is and in the process losing some of their own poise! This of course was just following the larger arc.
Since that interview, twitter went into meltdown, Anurag Kashyap has stated why he thinks he is the only true friend of Kangana, and how Sushant rejected his movies, and has been tweeting-feuding non-stop; Shatrughan Sinha of all people, has taken a potshot at Karan Johar; Subramanian Swamy & team have come on board as her legal team; Goswami has been thundering that she is threatened by Bollywood, and so on… I wonder if Barkha Dutt would interview Hrithik Roshan now!
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An Jo
July 26, 2020
@Aman I hope Harinder Sikka shows the proof that the director of JLF mentions that he has never seen such kind of bullying in his 35 years of life. Yes he hasn’t shown screen-shots but did go all out to say that he could send it to Arnab. Now the great Arnab, being the right counter-part of the great Barkhas and Rajdeeps, doesn’t want to do that! He got his 100 tweets per 2 minutes and I guess he was satisfied!! The time-line Sikka mentions is also not right as you mention but I suspect he’s gotten the names confused. I would rather veer towards believing him since film-making or producing I believe isn’t his bread and butter. And of course, to name someone like Gulzar is really something. Firstly, I still haven’t wrapped my head and the bloody heart mainly around the mere mention of Gulzar’s name in such sordid business.
I can still believe the bullying done by ganglords of BFI like the Akhtars and Johars and Chopras as mentioned in the video below, but CANNOT believe Gulzar to be in that group…not even if I am ‘high’ in a KJo party…..
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brangan
July 26, 2020
An Jo: I can still believe the bullying done by ganglords of BFI like the Akhtars and Johars and Chopras as mentioned in the video below, but CANNOT believe Gulzar to be in that group
Why is this so hard to believe? 🙂 Do you know Gulzar in person? You only know him by his work right? 🙂
That’s why I feel — and have been saying repeatedly — that it’s naive to conflate the artist with the art. Yes, this IS hard to do, because our view of a public person is shaped by the work they do, but at the end of the day, Gulzar is a father, too — and what he is doing is essentially the equivalent of a non-film father using his clout/influence to make sure his child gets a coveted college seat.
It’s terrible, it’s unfair to kids with only merit but without a Big Daddy, but it happens all the time.
My point is that some parents will never stop trying. Whether to give in to this bullying (because Gulzar = views), or take the high ground (which is the right moral choice) is a decision the festival has to make.
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Madan
July 26, 2020
Substitute Gulzar with IR promoting Bhavata and Raja fanatics’ craven defence of using her voice. It’s not that hard, just let go. An artist being erudite has nothing to do with the person he is.
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Aman Basha
July 26, 2020
@An Jo: Honestly, I have no words for the cheapness, double standards, hypocrisy, what not of the media and film critics. The way the right has hijacked the narrative, the way the left is pretending the issue doesn’t exist, they are equally wrong and the left/liberal media especially so, given their pretense of high standards. In fact, if anyone online is willing to announce a boycott on the likes of Masand and those who have given statements in his support like Namrata Joshi and so on, I’d happily participate. The whole blanket boycott merits some discussion too, the opportune silence of these people like the Akhtars, who have an opinion on everything, when it comes to their own ilk. It’s been very open that SRK gets his awards not on the merit of his work but his stage performances too, yet I think the public has now started to care since the earlier monopoly had better talents, the present are mediocre, hypocritical and out of touch snobs stuck in their own bubble. The audience is fuming, it’s not surprising that the Khans or Akki have lasted this long and are still the top superstars. There’s been no one who has the audience connect as they do, because those who are touted as the next big thing know nothing about their own audience and only dissed them till the audience now snapped back.
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Jai
July 26, 2020
@ Aman – waiting for a blanket boycott call is probably a waste of time and anyway, I don’t feel it is particularly apposite, either. While I deeply dislike and am disappointed by several critics whitewashing Rajeev Masand’s antics, I can understand (thought not appreciate), their knee jerk response to “defend one of them”.
I don’t in any case read many reviews by Namrata Joshi to start off. Anupama Chopra’s studied silence and tacit support irritated me because I had thought better of her, but you know what Warren Buffet says about what you can see when the tide goes out. 😒
But one thing people upset at Masand’s breach of ethics and conduct can do – write in to News18, asking them to investigate whether their entertainment editor’s writing “blind articles” in the Open magazine, constitutes conflict of interest and breach of their code of conduct/ professional ethics standards. If they seriously take this up and conduct an unbiased enquiry, good for them. If they don’t – well, that’s one less channel I will be watching. It’s not a loss, there are other channels out there.
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Aman Basha
July 26, 2020
Thought I’d be out of this for a while and enjoy my weekend till this pops up in my timeline:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/taapsee-pannu-says-she-was-replaced-in-pati-patni-aur-woh-kangana-ranaut-didn-t-support-me/story-R2FG7xYWAyy1LgptkBSyyH.html
Does Taapsee even make sense here? She’s saying Kangana didn’t support her over what she called unprofessional behavior in a movie which had nothing to do with Kangana? Just maddening, and totally makes me believe and respect her.
Now it’s amply clear that Taapse got replaced on Pati Patni Aur Woh with someone else. No points for guessing who replaced her and how. Yeah, these people deserve it. This is bullying and mafia behavior.
Also why is Shotgun shooting in the opposite direction of daughter Sona?
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/shatrughan-sinha-bats-for-kangana-ranaut-most-of-the-people-speak-against-her-because-they-are-very-jealous/story-hEUamxx7pqXYJChKYfVNbN.html
Is the Bihar election coming up soon or something?
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Anu Warrier
July 26, 2020
@Aman, I think Taapsee is making sense in that now suddenly, Kangana is all about ‘supporting outsiders’ but when Taapsee was in a position where she lost a project to a star kid, there was no support. The movie itself may not have had anything to do with Kangana, but neither does Sushant or his death, do they?
Besides, here’s Anurag Kashyap on Kangana refusing Saand ki Aankh because she wanted it to be a solo film; and then, announcing a film in which she was going to play an 80-year-old woman.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/anurag-kashyap-says-after-rejecting-saand-ki-aankh-kangana-ranaut-suddenly-announced-rival-film-gave-director-panic-attack/story-ZaztjHg5ahYbxcDGB8T29N.html
Of course, Team Kangana has a different take on it now, but someone as respected as Ketan Mehta filed suit against her for hijacking his project and research on his take on Jhansi ki Rani to make Manikarnika.
Re: Shotgun – I think his name speaks for itself. 🙂
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Anu Warrier
July 26, 2020
@An Jo – I don’t know if Gulzar is capable of that, and I’m reserving judgement until I see this purported email and any relevant proof. It’s all very well to come out and make claims like these; everyone is jumping on the bandwagon for their 5 minutes, and if Arnab had any sort of ethics, he would have asked for proof. But he doesn’t, and he won’t. He’s happy with having stoked controversy; it gets him ratings. He’s the equivalent of say, Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity here.
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Aman Basha
July 26, 2020
@Anu Warrier: What I meant is that Taapsee talked about being replaced in Pati Patni Aur Woh, there’s no doubt that Ananya Panday replaced her and did so with KJo’s blessing, support or maybe even networking. Since Taapsee called it unprofessional and disliked it, she was hustled out of opportunity much likely after . So Kangana and the audience are right in criticizing KJo, if Taapse after Judwaa 2 and a solo hit Naam Shabana can feel hustled, it’s obvious that this isn’t a meritocracy. Taapsee, calling out Kangana over something bad that had happened and which no one knew till now, actually proved Kangana right. Plus, it’s not as though the issue caught Kangana’s attention, she’s made herself amply clear in the TOI interview.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/kangana-ranaut-on-her-crusade-for-sushant-singh-rajput-yes-it-is-about-sushant-but-it-is-also-about-my-life/articleshow/77133063.cms
And this is where people’s support for her is becoming unshakable. Apart from Apoorva Asrani and Manoj Bajpayee (who had a brief cameo calling out Masand), no one is talking about this. More than anything, Anurag Kashyap has disappointed me the most. He didn’t even talk about Masand but still takes potshots at NaMo, while criticizing Kangana. It’s not as if she’s making her own allegations, as I said before, the blinds were outed from a normal twitter user account sourced from reddit, all the names she’s taken also match with the general consensus much before Kangana used them and slowly, the skeletons are tumbling out of the closet. She’s not making anything up on her own, the public has provided enough material and she’s only amplifying them. There’s no denying that she has an agenda, but we’ll do make do with what we can.
I checked Shotgun’s interview on YouTube and people were only dissing his daughter’s release Bhuj. The public knows what game it’s playing and it’s playing well so far, IMO.
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TambiDude
July 27, 2020
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/there-is-a-whole-gang-working-against-me-in-bollywood-says-ar-rahman
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Anu Warrier
July 27, 2020
Taapsee, calling out Kangana over something bad that had happened and which no one knew till now, actually proved Kangana right.
But they did, no? Taapsee called out the producer publicly for dropping her. She said she didn’t care about losing the film but did care about the unprofessionalism. She even talked about it on FC with Anupama.
In any case, Taapsee hasn’t lost anything because she called it out publicly. She’s still doing enough work to keep her happy. So what the heck is Kangana and her team talking about Taapsee’s ‘non-existent career’ for? Taapsee was the busiest actress last year, and she has two (or 3?) films in various stages of completion and has signed another 3.
What is this if not harassment? Bullying? And now Taapsee needs to learn from Kangana how to be an ‘A-lister’? It wasn’t enough for Kangana to call her a B-grade actress? Chaploos? ‘Needy outsider’? Pot. Meet kettle. It. Is. Always. The. Hypocrisy. That. Gets. Me.
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Enna Koduka Sir Pera
August 13, 2020
I can’t stand the atrocity happening on Republic TV, where Arnab is conducting his own investigation in a totally biased manner and the comments underneath are praising him for this. Thank goodness we don’t have a jury system and these commenters are not delivering justice.
Just out of curiosity, if someone understands how this works, I would be very interested to know. So, I saw an interview with Sushant’s flatmate and a former Mumbai police officer on the channel, where they were not let to complete answers or every single phrase interpreted way out of context. Knowing well they may not be heard or may be misinterpreted if they have a counter view to Arnab’s, what makes these people agree to appear on the show with him? I mean they can always refuse to talk to the media, especially Arnab, right?
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