Is the Bollywood Mafia strategically eliminating the talented outsiders?

This post is not about the tragic death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. This is a post about nepotism or bhai-bhatijawaad in the Indian Film Industry. Nepotism was always there in the glam world but the existing ‘Bollywood Mafia’ (as Kangana Ranaut chooses to say) is extremely vicious and we, the viewers need to tackle them.

Why only ageing heroes and half-baked star sons and daughters star in high budget films? Why do we see the same old crafty faces at film award ceremonies? Why does the film industry stink of staleness? Simple! the Bollywood Mafia has been strategically eliminating the outsiders – real talents.

Rajput was an outsider too. There may have been many causes for his suicide, but nepotism was definitely one of them. He was constantly being pushed out of the centerstage, where he belonged. But a group of muscle-flexing, pretty boys and skimpily clad, surgically enhanced, starlets tried to edge him out of sight.

How can real talent survive when they are forced to stay back and remain on the fringe? Let’s think about last year’s Hindi films! Except some of the Ayushmann Khurrana films, what we have been watching are trashy movies. ‘Dabangg 3’, ‘Student of the Year, Housefull 4, Bharat, Kalank… all these films are not worth more than one or two stars. Would you watch any of these again? The below third-rate quality of our films is all due to nepotism.

The industry has been serving concocted success stories of half-baked star sons and daughters. The media is funded by the mafia to carve glorious images for the non-deserving relatives of stars. And they are projected as great actors just after working for one or two films.

Supporters say that nepotism only works for the initial break of the star kid and hard work matters after that. But the point is, despite delivering flops they are privileged to stay around in Bollywood. However, for the talented outsiders, it’s extremely hard to get into the industry and extremely easy to get chucked out.

They have no ‘Godfathers’ to hang on to…and then, there are filmy vultures ready to feed on them. The privileged people of the industry get to stay despite flops after flops. They just refuse to move or make room for talented outsiders.

You and I have seen so many fine and popular actors getting restricted to character roles because they would not be offered main roles. Yes, there are examples of some success stories that survived nepotism…Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Ayushmann Khurrana…they have been extremely lucky.

And as Ram Gopal Verma said, the outsiders do become insiders of the industry in the long run and promote their family, it happens with every industry. But Verma should remember that every industry is not film industry. Here, the public matters the most! AFTER ALL, WE PAY FOR THE TICKETS TO WATCH YOUR FILMS!

So, we, the viewers should get to decide which actor or actress is deserving. Not Bollywood, Not Media, Not the PR people….!

We, as viewers have the right to expect quality films but what we have been getting is trash after trash. Our regional cinema is more artistic, imaginative, creative and supple than mainstream, which seriously suffers from stagnation and draught of ideas. Every other YouTube or TikTok star seems more talented than our film actors. And look at our performance at international level, our films are pathetic as compared to world cinema. The system needs to be overhauled!

We, the viewers should demand for anti-nepotism policies in the film industry…no son, daughter, spouse, friend or relative should be given privileges. Almost, every organization has anti-nepotism clause then why should it not apply to the film industry?

Only talent should matter, only talent should thrive! Very soon, the film industry will suffer from a public backlash, and we the viewers will run the show biz. It is time the Public takes the power back from them. The revolution has begun… we have the social media on our side to begin with.

(Images courtesy Google)

After Kangana’s Coffee with Karan….

Seething with anger, Mr Karan Johar sat in a luxurious room post his ‘Koffee with Karan’ episode with the arrogant actress Kangana Ranaut. He had been contradicted and slammed on his own famous chat show by a little actress, who was weaker than him in every way. She had no ‘godfather’ in the Hindi film industry, she was not the daughter of a renowned filmmaker or celebrity, she had far lesser contacts and connections than him, and less wealth in comparison to him.  Although, red faced after being called a ‘movie mafia’, Karan had tried to maintain his composure, making it all light and good humoured but the cracks had shown on the show…

Breaking his reverie, the phone buzzed! It was his favourite actress. “How could she, the shabby thing, speak to you like that Karan.You poor thing, I know you must be really mad….and did you hear her disgusting accent….what’s wrong with her….,” the actress purred. Karan spoke his heart out for the next ten moments. The staff in the next room could make out that the boss was indeed in a very bad humour.

“The down market thing, needs to be taught a lesson….,” another favourite whatsapped him. By this time, the media and twiterrati were having a gala time at the expense of poor Mr Johar. The man had been stumped at his own ‘masala’ show! The media sided with Kangana, who had chided Karan for his nepotism and tendency to act as the owner of Bollywood.

 The Hindi film industry is indeed brimming with actors and actresses with less talent and more contacts. All the top notch actors are sons and daughters of celebrities – Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Shraddha Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Tiger Shroff….to name just a few. Ms Ranaut had won this round of applause.

Mr Johar reacted subtly in his next episode of ‘Koffee with Karan’ with Kapil Sharma. “What would you do if you wake up as Kangana Ranaut?,” he asked the comedian. “I would delete my emails,” Kapil Sharma replied sheepishly. And then both laughed nonsensically, insinuating at Kangana and Hrithik’s affair! But the humour fell flat. 

By this time, more than half of the industry sided with Karan Johar, they needed to be in his good books. Ms Ranaut was always an outsider, a nobody, despite having talent. She had also dared to pick up fights with other prominent goliaths like Roshans and was said to be arrogant and rude. 

Karan struck again! While speaking on the sidelines of an event at the London School of Economics, he hinted that Kangana may not have understood the meaning of the word nepotism, that he was fed up of seeing her play the ‘woman card’ and ‘victim card’ and that if the actress had such a problem with the way  industry worked, she was welcome to leave.

That day, watching Karan’s vengeful speeches, Kangana smiled inwardly! She knew most of the industry people would refuse to work with her now. She had irrepairably damaged her career by being loud and clear but…what made her smile was…atleast she had managed to hit back in some way. She knew that she could be called names and dirty allegations might be made against her but she was here to stay! It was time for her to react again! She straightened her back and strided confidently albeit towards an uncertain future.

(Disclaimer – This is a dramatised version of the ongoing battle between Karan Johar and Kangana Ranaut. It is partly factual and partly fictitious. Images courtesy Google.)

A lady from 60s!

I have created this Indian lady keeping the stylish 60s in mind, when flamboyance, colours and exuberance dominated the silver screen. 

Hindi film actresses like Hema Malini, Saira Banu, Sadhana, Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Sharmila Tagore went bolder and experimental with dress and make up during the era. Ladies extensively used winged eyeliners while beehives and fringe cut went on to be a rage. Old teen age pictures of our mothers say it all.

I have once again used pastel pencils and chalks here. As I worked on it continuously for about two hours, I felt I needed a lot of practice to understand the tricks and techniques for blending colours. Do you have any idea how to blend pastels?

Here is a black and white version of the same sketch after putting the charcoal effect through an app. Which one do you like better?