Merciless Nepotism

The tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput has not only shattered the nation but it has brought the ugly reality of nepotism and harassment in Bollywood. The unfortunate suicide has renewed the debate over nepotism and subsequent harassment in Bollywood. Many celebrities such as Ranvir Shorey, Abhinay Kashyap, Manoj Bajpayee, Dibakar Banerjee, Koena Mitra, Raveena Tandon, Sapna Bhavani, Shekar Kapur, Kangana Ranaut and others have also supported that this clannish atmosphere makes it difficult for the real talents but with no family connection in the industry, to sustain and survive.

Ranvir Shorey on his Twitter handle recounts an example of nepotism In Bollywood with an incident from an award show. Ranvir wrote, "This unfolded on a popular Bollywood awards show. A star kid is co-hosting the show. They announce the next category - Best Actor. The nominees are played out, and the star kid is one of the nominees. Surprise-surprise! To present the award, the hosts invite two esteemed film personalities, who happen to be the star kid's parents. What a sweet coincidence!" Ranvir further says, “… But something has to be said about the self-appointed 'gatekeepers of Bollywood'. Something has to be said about the games they play, and their two facedness."

There are clips and video evidence in which Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Shahid Kapoor etc mocking and insulting Sushant Singh Rajput. Old clips of Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, and Sonam Kapoor ridiculing Sushant on the talk show of Karan Johar, and Kareena Kapoor Khan advising her stepdaughter, Sara Ali Khan must not date her ‘first hero’ in another clip.  

Salman Khan, Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sajid Nadiadwala, Aditya Chopra, Yash Raj Films etc have been blamed for the harassment. Vivek Oberoi, Aishvarya Rai Bachchan, Abhijeet, Arijeet, Sushmita Sen, Abhinav Kashyap, Shreesh Kunder, Abhay Deol, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Late Parveen Babi and so many others are the victim of this type of nepotism and harassment.

Apart from the known acting talents, Sushant Singh Rajput has an intellectual life apart from the shallow life of show business. He was not only a talented actor but also a scholar who had a deep knowledge of space science and astronomy. He also possessed the talent to use both his hands to write at the same time. He was ambidextrous which is a quality to make use of right and left hands with equal comfort.

Sushant was the tender tree of Bollywood who couldn’t survive due to the nepotism. He was also a very decent and humble actor who touched the feet of Manoj Bajpayee on the first day of Sonchiriya shoot. This is the reason that lakhs of followers have un-followed a section of Bollywood celebrities on social media.  Every year a number of people connected with Bollywood end up their lives due to nepotism and harassment.

This is the reason that most of the parents do not want to send their children to Bollywood. The film industry has no job security. The future is unrealistic and insecure. Here struggle has a different meaning. It means humiliation, heartbreak, addiction, compromise, surrender, physical exploitation, losing self-esteem, depression and may also lead suicide. Sadly Sushant Singh Rajput best personified all the evils of Bollywood. Every year dozens of such unfortunate souls are number in the death register due to suicide.

New entrants are only a lost shadow in the maddening crowd, unreal world of happiness and name, always near to death like survival on drugs, addiction, and sex or to death. That is why children rebel with their parents and run away to join this artificial world.

The outsider is the one who can’t speak wrong English fluently and no money in his pockets. But he has talent and vision. An intruder is one who is from the soil of India but not a so-called ‘cool guy’ who cannot please or entertain the filmmakers. He is a real ‘gully boy’ but can’t join the night party of Gully Boys of Bollywood. Mumbai is full of such struggling outsiders pining to become Amitab Bachchan or Akshay Kumar. Whenever a Sushant succeeds, these old Trojan horses try to bulldoze them.

Sushant’s suicide has shattered their dreams. Bollywood is neither an industry nor a corporate house. There is neither any method nor a system. As for a forest tree, bush, grass, water, insect, etc all are crucial for the ecology, the same is true to Bollywood. Despite good stars, it could never become a wonderful world because there are cannibal trees. They are ‘strangler trees’. They will uproot you, suck your water, and mineral grows big and produce rich fruits. He won’t tell anybody that the beggar sitting at his gate is sucked by him.

Bollywood is a dangerous forest full of strangler, cannibals and parasites kind of dangerous tree. They are always on the hunt for delicate, tender, weak trees to suck their juice and kill them. Some learn the art of survival; in turn, suck other new smaller trees. Those who want self-respect lost or die.

Sushant was one such delicate tree. That is the reason; Bollywood could never become an industry. It is just another dark, underworld. Kangana Ranaut, Shekhar Kapur, Sapana Bhavnani etc slam Bollywood. Kangana Ranaut said that his opponents made him believe that he was ‘worthless.’ She recorded a public service announcement clip wherein she condemned negative reports about the actor, pointing out Sushant was a rank holder and questioned how he could have a “weak mind”. Kangana went on to state that the actor never got the recognition he deserved.

Shekhar Kapur also slammed the people who let him down. Sushant Singh Rajput was set to work with him on ‘Paani’, but the film was shelved. In an interview, the filmmaker had revealed that a much disheartened Sushant had cried a lot then. He shared on Twitter, “ I knew the pain you were going through. I knew the story of the people that let you down so bad that you would weep on my shoulder...”

Koena Mitra had also expressed her displeasure for discrimination in Bollywood. She had stated, “ Sushant was a bright guy, good looking actor and succeeded with good films. A lot of people have experienced this…It’s pretty sad. He’s not the first one and there are many such Sushants in our industry…Those writing essays mourning his death used to mock him because he was a TV star.”

Sapna Bhavnani and Nikhil Dwivedi have also slammed the Bollywood for its nepotism and hypocrisy and not lending any support to Sushant Singh Rajput.

Sushant Singh Rajput couldn't make many friends and people used to ignore him due to his brightness. But even them is death has shattered the nation. BJP MP Shri Manoj Tiwari has asked for the CBI inquiry and another MP Shri Chirag Paswan has written to the Maharashtra CM Shri Udhav Thackeray for an honest probe.