After the unexpected & tragic suicide of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput,social media was flooded with posts of celebrities who had directly or indirectly wronged him.The next day,Karan Johar,director & more importantly,owner of the mega ‘Dharma Productions’ put up a post on his social media accounts stating that he blames himself for alienating SSR,since he didn’t talk to him for an year.Soon reports and posters came out,of movies SSR was doing or supposed to do but the producers backed away.It seems SSR had signed some YRF movies(YRF usually has 3 movie contracts) but then SSR made a conscious decision to do only issue related movies & not frivolous stuff.This didn’t go down well with the producers who soon ‘boycotted’ him,starting a chain of rejections & removals.Shekhar Kapur has come out publicly stating that much of this is true(https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/sushant-singh-rajput-cried-a-lot-when-he-found-out-paani-has-been-shelved-we-both-did-shekhar-kapur/story-zoTUzci0x97aDyDUPDnVkI.html) His movie “Paani” was supposed to go on the floors but was choked financially whereby both Kapur & SSR felt very dejected.While the details of SSR’s suicide are yet to be revealed,the discussion around “depression” has now turned into a discussion about “Nepotism”.Nepotism is described as using your relatives or family influence to get a job or a position.While we are quick to lash out at “rich celebs” we tend to overlook how often we ourselves use it in our lives.Any person who has got a connection in a firm,store or public place of service will undoubtedly deploy it to his own advantage(I mean who hasn’t heard “Mera beta hai,ise dekh lijiyega zara” or “Meri beti hai,isko sikha dijiyega thoda”) This might be an emotional or a purely transactional relationship.Still we do this & have been doing it since forever.The people who don’t have such a connection loathe this because it puts them in a position of utter disadvantage on a competitive basis. We need to ask whether if given the chance would we have done the same deployment of such resources or no.Now you will say “Sure,but I have not caused anyone financial or moral harm.I just did what everyone does.” Agreed.You may have just been looking at your situation without strictly trying to put someone else down.I would argue then that it’s pretty much the same in Bollywood.So,Javed Akhtar & Salim Khan were famous script writers in the 1970s.They loved Amitabh Bachchan’s delivery of their lines & would try to retain him in as many movies as possible.AB is of course,a great actor & was popular which added to his appeal.Behind the scenes,a friendship between Salim Khan,Javed & AB means that they meet up regularly during social events.Salim & Javed would’ve seen Abhishek & Shweta since they were toddlers.Similarly,AB would’ve seen Salman since he was a toddler.Naturally,when Abhishek grows up and if Javed or Salim Khan are still working they’ll think of Abhishek first.Now the industry is not limited to these three alone.There are producers,directors,many other actors & a whole host of crew members.This inter-mixing means easy recognition outside the event.As in any industry,people tend to have likes & dislikes.Some people are pandered to only because they are doing well professionally while some relationships go deeper than this.The end result is a large network of people who know each other since decades.Kangana had said that while doing a movie with Sanjay Dutt & Anil Kapoor,the two of them had nothing to say to KR since they went too far back & shared a lot of old stories.The time spent on the sets of a movie takes up much longer than the length of the movie so such things are hard to overlook.So for an ‘outsider’ not only do you not get work easily ,your attempts at forming a social network are also impeded because a well-formed ‘family’ already exists.And why only Bollywood? Just imagine that you,a Delhi person go to work at a job in Hyderabad.Your eyes will light up on meeting another Delhiite at that place.It’s simply our familiarity with a person or something in common that makes us strike up a relationship more easily.If the invite for a party arrives,the Delhiite will most likely tell it to his Delhiite friend first(this is usually the case,exceptions don’t make a norm) However,according to me the problem comes when such relationships result in a massive consolidation of either wealth or power.This makes the whole issue that much more serious because now you have such high barriers to entry that you may as well not try entering at all.Think of a oligopoly market where just 2-3 companies make up all the sales & profits of an industry.Implicitly,both companies try to protect each other too because they know that the other will help in the longer propagation of such a scenario.Bollywood for many,many years ran on money from shady sources.Movie stars were seen at public events or watching cricket matches alongwith well-known criminals.Somehow this mould broke with Yash Raj Films becoming a huge corporation(though many people believe that money from shady sources still continues to rush into Bollywood) Similarly,Dharma Productions was able to achieve similar prosperity.There is also Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions(massively successful movies like “3 Idiots”,”P.K.”,”Sanju”) In any case,3-4 belligerent production houses flush with money,having long associations with many industry ‘insiders’,media people,distributors is a very bad situation for a newcomer.So,all newcomers have to function according to unstated ‘norms’.No one would want to be in their bad books.They will praise them needlessly,criticism will be shallow or just non-existent.While anyone who attempts to break this monopoly will be met with a lot of backlash.This is not to suggest that YRF & Dharma are just a-hole corporations.Not at all.In fact,protecting your market is a very common & natural tendency of businesses.This is probably the same effect a ‘quarrel’ with Salman Khan can have on your career.He is an old-timer,his movies do great,he is ‘bankable’ and has a lot of influence.And this setup does not apply to India alone.Hollywood has many such ’eminent’ personalities.Many have been exposed in recent years.Louis CK was a stand-up comic almost revered by comedians across the world for his talents.In 2017,allegations were leveled by some women women(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html) All of them made similar allegations.Now people say why were they quiet for so long? The answer is simple.Louis CK is famous,his presence at an event or a night club or a bar can substantially increase it’s repute.So,no night club/bar wants to risk pissing him off.When a fledgling comedienne makes some allegations of course no one will react.She’s a ‘nobody’ while CK is the No. 1 guy.Thus,once a woman makes such allegations she’s implicitly boycotted by everyone who wants to have Louis CK perform at their venues.It is completely possible that this lady may not be a great comic.Maybe she would’ve turned to another career too.But that’s not the point.The point is that one person exercising so much influence on an industry is a terrible situation.Harvey Weinstein’s case is no different(https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41594672) He repeatedly sidelined celebs who didn’t toe his line.They would soon be boycotted & have to work on the opposite end of ‘Miramax'(Weinstein’s production company) It is also documented that he possessed undue influence over the decisions at the Oscars too(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tihITlPAn4)
So what you need is to break this system of consolidated power.The recent backlash against almost the whole industry seems to be a nice beginning.If the energies can be deployed more strategically we would’ve made a far bigger contribution to SSR’s legacy than just making a few social media posts.I feel a call for more transparency in revealing the money trail of production houses,supporting independent creators while rejecting ‘big studio’ movies can be good ways to contribute.More concretely,supporting anyone who stands up against the ‘big studios’ or some big actor in a financial manner if need be.Legal costs are far too high for relatively out-of-work or money starved yesteryear artists.So,if the audience itself can pitch in it will be a big blow to the whole system.
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