Recently,
one of the famous actors, Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide, without
leaving behind a note. This gave rise to umpteen number of speculations about
the reason why he committed suicide. The actual reason why he did so are only
known to him who’s unfortunately not here to tell. One of the major so called predictions taking
centre-stage has been that he was in depression because of multiple reasons,
including receiving partial treatment due to nepotism prevalent in the film
industry. Again, in absence of Sushant, it’s ironically anyone’s word against
anyone else’s. Anyhow, this has led to a pandemonium online as well as offline.
Any media content is incomplete without either a mention or at least a link of
Sushant Singh’s death by suicide.
Reflecting on this not as a movie buff or an avid media
content aficionado but as a conscious human being, I couldn’t stop myself from
writing a critique on this whole farce. Yes I dare call it a farce because the
whole topic is overrated, meaningless and rife with vested interests of wannabe
celebrities (sorry for the tautology here). Let me also declare plainly and
clearly here that I’m neither for nor against any sides and I’m here only to
point out the futility of the uproar and the pointlessness of general public
wasting their time on this topic.
Firstly, the word nepotism is thrown around as if
everyone understands it in its true sense. Most examples from the film industry
which are quoted as examples of nepotism are actually examples of cronyism. For
readers’ reference, here are the definitions as given by Cambridge dictionary:
Nepotism:
the act of using your power or influence
to get good jobs or unfair advantages for members of your own family
Cronyism: the situation in which someone important
gives jobs to friends rather than to independent people who have the necessary
skills and experience.
The purpose of clarifying this is, if you’re criticizing
something or someone, at least be good with your language. All these people are
not shouting against an actor launching his son or a daughter but producers or
directors casting male or female actors who are from their ‘inner circle’
rather than recruiting ‘talented’ people.
Firstly,
this is like crying against the world for not being fair to you. Understand that
the word is highly subjective. What’s fair for you is unfair for someone else.
Secondly, if you extrapolate this, nothing in the world is fair for that
matter. So, actors crying against cronyism (or let’s just call it favouritism) are
like humans crying for not getting what they want. My question is, who does?
And Where?
This
particular thing that these guys are complaining against is everywhere you go,
may it be the film industry, politics, corporate world, educational institutes,
government offices… You name it! Does an employee working for Reliance
Industries complain against MukeshAmbani appointing someone as a director? Does
a BJP party worker shout out slogans against NarendraModiji for appointing
someone as a particular cabinet minister? Even if there are people saying ‘Yes’ as an answer to these questions,
the numbers are very few and insignificant to even take notice of. Why? Simply
because most of us accept a person’s judgment in taking a decision and secondly
we accept certain favouritisms as natural. Understand why a Karan Johar would
cast an Alia Bhatt or a Ranbir Kapoor in his next production. It’s simply
because he likes them in general and is more comfortable working with them.
It’s his choice. If you’re against it, start your own production or get hold of
someone who’s willing to bet on you. If an employee of a company disagrees with
the management’s decision of not promoting him or not giving him a sufficient
hike, he doesn’t go to social media to shout against his superior or the employer.
He either communicates his grievances to his superior, the HR or someone
important. If he’s still unsatisfied, he quits and looks for another job. It’s
as simple as that. If an entrepreneurial candidate doesn’t get the funding from
one of the investors, he doesn’t wait and fight against the same investor but
goes on and presents his idea to someone else who might be interested and
willing to invest in his venture. Only people who do these allegations are
crybabies and we all know what happens to crybabies.
Someone
who has talent and the zeal to achieve something would never cry or wait for
someone to recognize their talent. They’ll sharpen their skills and polish
their being to such a level that people would have to take notice. I’d love to
quote Annu Kapoor here as he perfectly encapsulates the crux of the matter. He
says, “Hypocrisy, favouritism, corruption are integral parts of Indian society
(I’d even go on to say Human society). The film industry is a product of this
society, so it exists there as well. Expecting fair play would be like living
in a fool’s paradise.”
I
thoroughly respect this attitude. If you’re in it to win it, just focus and
move ahead. Don’t waste your time complaining against things. If we get these
crybabies cast in a movie with a good script and a wonderful director, all we
would get is mediocrity. Things have a tendency to fall in the most natural way
and we all know you just can’t win against nature. So here’s my advice to all
those who’re crying against nepotism incorrectly (both linguistically as well
as philosophically); if you had spent even half as much time honing your craft
as you have in complaining against inevitabilities, you could have become a
ManojBajpai or a NawazuddinSiddiiqui. True gems may take longer to shine, but
when they do, they’re self-effulgent. They neither need anyone’s approval nor
anyone’s favours. And they definitely don’t believe in wasting time
complaining… If you’re still not satisfied, go audition for Big Boss 35 or 47
or whatever season is on… You may find like-minded people there and also
audience who can appreciate your talent.
- Sarang Tilak
No comments:
Post a Comment