Qissa Controversy Ka: Nepotism!

 To begin with, familiarizing ourselves with what Nepotism means is necessary. Nepotism is "Nepotism is based on favouritism granted to relatives in various fields, including business, politics, entertainment, sports, religion and other activities." So Nepotism exists in all fields and is a very normal and natural process and there is absolutely nothing wrong in it. A doctor shall promote their kid, similarly an engineer, businessman etc. Therefore it is very normal that there shall be nepotism in every field but then why is Bollywood singled out specifically? Not to forget, trending Boycott Bollywood, disliking trailers is not a solution and in fact, there is a bigger issue than nepotism that exists!

                                

The real issue is an 'Entrance Test' and 'Privileged vs Oppressed'. As it has become clear, the are certain 'gangs' that control who gets a movie, who does not. These gangs are run by elite, glamourous people who decide to promote a specific set of star kids (Hot favourite at the moment: Jahnvi Kapoor) and the issue comes in here. Whenever a star kid makes their debut, like recently, Sara was found to promote Kedarnath whereas her co-star SSR was not allowed to promote it. The critics, the audiences everyone went gaga over Sara's performance so much that they forgot SSR was also in it. Sara went on to give interviews alone and similarly when SOTY2 was being promoted, Tara Sutaria was sidelined and Ananya and Tiger were the focus of conversations. This oppression of outsiders with the insiders is the actual reason that we should be focussing on. Furthermore, it can be questioned that "Why dont they object to this treatment?" For which a simple, straightforward answer is that an outsider cannot upset the particular gang, who are capable to stagnating their growth and dearth of movie offers. So, when you oppress that particular outsider, how can you expect the audience to appreciate those outsiders in movies that outsider stars in when the audience is not aware of the outsider. Result: Outsider movies flop big time and they lose out on work or rather 'snatched' away from them like for Parineeti who lost out on projects in spite of being a phenomenal actress (Ishaqzaade, Hasee toh Phasee are a testament), similar things with SSR, Taapsee (in PPAW, replaced by Ananya), Swara etc.

                              

Difference between a doctor promoting their doctor kid or engineer promoting their engineer kid is the fact that they have to give written exams, entrance exams, pass all semesters etc. Whereas in cinema, the star kid simply walks into a biggie producer's office, gives look tests and Viola! The lack of such 'entrance tests' in the industry is a big problem and we have this process in the western counterpart where Nepotism technically doesn't exist. Furthermore, even in star kids, the Kapoors, the Johars, the Khans are the 'creme-de-latte' of Bollywood and control the machinery at one end. Nepotism started long back with Prithviraj Kapoor who launched his son, his brother etc and from then on Kapoors cemented themselves in this industry. Therefore, anyone in their 'good books' shall be promoted (Ananya Pandey: Her mother Bhawna Pandey is a close associate of Kapoors and furthermore rumours are that her cousin Ahaan Pandey and Shanaya Kapoor are speculated to be launched together thanks to the relationship with the clan). Since Johars are dealing with actor kids, Salman Khan has decided to launch director and action director and 'close friends' kids including Zaheer Iqbal, Pranutan Behl, Utkarsh and Ayush Sharma, Sooraj Pancholi, and Athiya Shetty to name a few. All this at the cost of an outsider movie. 

                              

Whilst saying this, even good scripts go-to star kids in the starting of the career (Case in Point: Jahnvi Kapoor's Gunjan Saxena) for obvious reasons. Furthermore, why was Parineeti or Kriti offered to star opposite the Telugu Superstar Vijay Deveranakonda in the 'Fighter', produced by Dharma? To establish these star kids, all good scripts fall off outsiders lap into the insider's lap to establish them.  It is all about giving the outsiders a level playing field and then see the jump outsiders take w.r.t. star kids as stated by Kunal Kemmu. Even a doctor can only promote and send the patient to his son's clinic but cannot allow or force the patient to consult her kid if his dealings, medication are poor. Similarly, if the parents normally promote and get thier kid a movie, it is absolutely normal. The issue arises when to establish a kid like Jahnvi Kapoor one provide scripts like Gunjan Saxena to her and not to Radhika Madan or Sanjana Sanghi. Further, the outsiders have been left with mediocre scripts like Commando, Guddu ki Gun, Junglee, Rabtaa, Behen Hogi Teri , Heropanti etc.  The recent announcement of Disney+Hotstar of the movies line-up, they rightfully deemed 2 movies not worthy of representation(Read Picture) starring 2 outsiders in the lead and furthermore, Varun Dhawan was also called in (none of his movies were releasing). One of them was recently released Lootcase starring Kunal Kemmu, which proved the actor's acting prowess but was not deemed worthy of representation coz 'An Outsider'. Again, Bollywood needs to make it a 'level playing field' and then leave it for outsiders and insiders to flourish. Not only that the oppressed star kids like Rohan Mehra, Akshaye and Rahul Khanna, but Abhay Deol shall also be able to easily outcompete the 'Dharma' clan along with some outsiders like Kemmu, Jammwal, Sanon, Rao and Khurana!

                       

Therefore, more than Nepotism, it is about that entrance test and the privileged vs oppressed in cinema. But in the end, the audience just should not trend hashtags and instead, go actually and watch the movies of the outsiders and lap it with love, evident from the box office collections! SSR's Sonchiriya should not have flopped at the box office if it received the same love as Jahnvi Kapoor's Dhadak or Sara's Kedarnath recieved.