Nepotism In Bollywood

Who among us aren’t fans of Bollywood movies or at least watch and know of a few good ones as a source of entertainment? Bangladesh is heavily influenced by Indian television and all other entertainment and all of us know at least one Bollywood fanatic who is obsessed with a legendary actor like Shahrukh Khan for example. That one person in the friend group was always me!

I always have been enthralled by Bollywood movies, each actor’s/actress’s different capabilities, their range, each director’s unique way of storytelling, visual aids and of course the dialogue delivery- some of which we often find ourselves quoting to make an impact. Now talking about the industry, what is the most prevalent issue or topic that has been buzzing around for awhile? Nepotism.

For the past few years, the word ‘nepotism’ is being thrown around every time a ‘Star Kid’ comes around. Even recently when Ananya Pandey (daughter of Chunkey Pandey), Jhanvi Kapoor (daughter of Sridevi and Boney Kapoor), and Sara Ali Khan (daughter of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh) made their debuts, there was a lot of backlash on the fact that they have been given roles and jobs that they don’t deserve, that they didn’t work for and because of that actual talented new-comer actors aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve. It was said that the new actresses are using their family names to take the easy way out, and they don’t even know the basic of acting. Now moving on the fact that all of these comments made, by numerous faceless people of the internet, started way before the actors’ movies even came out. They didn’t wait to judge the actual acting, they just started criticising every single thing about the young professional just on the basis of their surname. Nepotism or the favoritism that is granted to star kids giving them an edge over self-made artists is pretty planted in India’s entertainment industry. Bollywood kids and nepotism debate is most alive and  focuses on how talented actors are made to suffer by the high and mighty of Bollywood. But this does not say that the celebrity kids who do get work are happier or more successful. In fact, nepotism may create a fear in their minds that they don’t deserve the work they get. This may result in no job satisfaction and eventually, the decision of quitting or diverting in other fields may arise.

Now onto my opinion of the whole nepotism debate: 

I believe this topic only makes sense when viewing from a certain perspective. Similar to all other professions, when amateurs grow into professional actors and earn a name for themselves, they prove to the world and themselves that they deserve the success, fame and money. Why wouldn’t you want to earn enough money and respect that it can be passed on to the next generation? This is exactly what has happened- a legendary actress like the late Sridevi has earned the name for herself and following that legacy, Jhaanvi Kapoor has entered the industry. This is not nepotism. It would only be nepotism if she were to steal the opportunity from an aspiring actor while not putting in any effort to her craft, aka, being a lousy actress. We as an audience should wait for these people to atleast prove that they are good or not before making judgements. However, that fact is also true that Star-kids ‘struggle’ a lot less than aspiring actors. They don’t have to overcome even 10% of the hurdles that ordinary people have to, in order to even get the opportunity to audition for a role. Keeping all of this in mind, my take on nepotism is very simple – appreciate the opportunity to see a new face passed down from legacy, observe the performance and then constructively criticize and decide if they really are products of ‘nepotism’ or simply just following their predecessors’ footsteps.