Why do We Cry for Nepotism in Bollywood?

There has been a loud hue and cry about nepotism, favoritism prevalent in Bollywood following the suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajpoot on Jun 15. The Bollywood industry is now claimed to be controlled by certain production houses and families accused of denying entry of an outsider to the industry or turning actors’ survival difficult if they fail to be on good terms with these Bollywood tycoons. The turn of events, leading to huge public backlash against the ill culture prevailed in Bollywood over the years restricting genuine talent by Why do We Cry for Nepotism in Bollywood promoting star-kids repeatedly despite their failure till they deliver a hit-of course some of them live up to expectations, triggering one more question: Is nepotism confined to Bollywood?

Why Only Target Bollywood?

Image Source: James Love from Pixabay 

Everybody is shocked at the loss of a young, talented, seemingly successful actor, whose potential was yet to be realized completely and possibilities yet undiscovered. But why does it take a loss of life to suddenly realize, and stand against it, rather remind, us of the firm presence of a family inheritance in the industry?

The ostensible reason for Bollywood being targeted now is we, Indians, are pretty emotional and sympathetic. On discovering connectivity and association with such unfortunate events, in this case, considering the actor was isolated as he was an outsider, we grew restless towards ending the phenomenon causing them in the first place, only to be forgotten in the course of time, which is pretty natural too. The Kapoor family is still in the industry after 89 years since its first seed in the Industry, Prithviraj Kapoor, was featured in the first-ever Bollywood movie, Alam Ara,1931. It’s pointless to list down such actors and actresses coming on the backdrop of their family background since we knew, and promoted them despite constantly average performances by many of them over the years. One more reason is the chain reaction of feedbacks protesting nepotism in Bollywood, and the phenomenon of registering presence in whatever is trending on social platforms.

Nepotism is almost Everywhere

Author Patriac French, in a study on the Indian Parliament in 2011, found all MPs under the age of 30- two-thirds of the MPs aged 40 and above- were from political families. Of course, that’s an old report. But has much changed? We are still witnessing the fifth dynasty of a family, which continued to rule the nation for around 60 years, despite the constant failures and incompetence demonstrated by its latest heir.  Of course, with the emergence of the BJP government at the center, the presence of the members from political families has diminished. However, in states, the situation is the same if not worse.

Ever heard of Rohan Gavaskar? He debuted in international cricket to play for India as he has a special sir name – son of a legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar, however, he was opted out after few matches due to his poor performances. Countless such examples can be produced in cricket and other sports in the country. In sports, however, it didn’t have as much scope as in politics, Bollywood since one’s failure to match international standards or maintain consistency is visible to the world.

Astoundingly nepotism or favoritism has plenty of traces even in the Indian Armed Forces. The Corporate Sector and even the Indian judicial System are indulged in such practices. Therefore, the fact of the matter is, it’s really hard to find any walk of life with no presence of nepotism or favoritism.    

But why It is happening

We all hate it, wanting it to cease at the earliest; instead, it has grown exponentially, setting its root anywhere you may name it, leading to a question of how it is being nourished if everybody wants it to die so as to be allowed a genuinely deserving talent.

The reasons are many, however, the biggest reason is easy as pie to hunch: We. One may claim their complete dissociation with the phenomenon, but actually, it is far from true. Like in Bollywood, obviously, star-kids are launched by various production houses, and not by common people, which ensure they get a large fraction of screens available across the nation and market these actors and movies across different reality shows –We know they suck, but we watch- and  by going even city-to-city to expand its audience connect. But, as we know, no one can compel us to buy a ticket and watch the movie. In a similar fashion, no matter whose son/daughter an aspirant political leader is (s)he will not be elected unless voted enough.

Can it be ended?

Of course, it can be, though it’s next to impossible to annihilate this phenomenon, after all, we are human and most of us are easily lured on discovering the benefits we get on compromising with our honesty and integrity. But to stop it, by and large, we should leave no stone unturned to discard it by not watching sub-standard movies starring pathetic actors, not voting non-performing leaders or their sons who, despite never working on the ground, get a ticket, writing and speaking on public or social platforms, even protesting peacefully against such practices in any field to bring about change. After all, they are helplessly dependent on us. Simply speaking, mediocrity we support, mediocrity we will get; same goes with excellence.

Let us be very clear we are not really against anybody be it a star-kid or politician’s son; we just endorse the talent and an environment welcoming equal-opportunity for all. If an actor from an already-established-family-in-Bollywood works extraordinarily hard, gets a chance after being selected through audition, and acts well in movies, let us have no objection in such cases, rather promote and watch it. Unless we play an active role in building a healthy society, where hard-working and talented souls don’t have to suffer, nothing is ever going to change. It’s like wishing away a mountain sitting both hands-folded. The Disappearance of unwanted elements from society in posterity largely depends on our level of commitment towards building character in our children. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.