New Delhi: The Hindi movie industry is a house divided perhaps like never before with the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The untimely demise of Sushant Singh Rajput has ripped apart the the tinsel veneer. In the process the inner workings of an industry always in the public eye has been revealed. Schisms big and small have been exposed due to the actor’s death.
From nepotism and insider-outsider to mainstream vs indie cinema and bullying, it is open season for debate and mud-slinging.
Deep-rooted issues surface
It has been more than a month now since the 34-year-old actor was found hanging in his Bandra apartment June 14. The death by suicide has led to a churn. It has thrown up deep-rooted issues that have long troubled the glamour industry. The angst and anxiety has prompted searching, existential questions on the nature of Bollywood and its power structures.
Sushant’s memorable films
Sushant went from being the ‘outsider’ from Patna to the star of films such as Chichhore and M S Dhoni: The Untold Story. Since his death Mumbai Police has questioned several big names. Among them are producers Aditya Chopra and Sanjay Leela Bhansali and journalist Rajeev Masand.
The rifts however, are wide open and played out mostly on social media.
Kangana gets into the act
Kangana Ranaut slammed film barons Chopra and Karan Johar and also took a swipe at Tapsee Pannu and Swara Bhaskar. Then Anurag Kashyap and Ranvir Shorey were engaged in an unseemly spat on Twitter.
Anubhav Sinha reacts
As the issue snowballed into something no one had quite envisaged, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha said he was quitting Bollywood. It triggered intense discussion on what the moniker really means.
“ENOUGH!!! I hereby resign from Bollywood. Whatever the f*** that means,” Sinha wrote on Twitter and updated his profile to Anubhav Sinha (Not Bollywood).
Responding to Sinha, director Sudhir Mishra said, “Bollywood chodo (Leave aside Bollywood). Let’s go towards Indian Cinema, Indian Storytelling!” Aligarh director Hansal Mehta said, “Chhor diya (left it) It never existed in the first place.”
Also read: Heartwarming gesture! Ankita Lokhande lights candle for Sushant Singh Rajput
Sinha, who has a string of recent successes with films such as Thappad and Mulk”, said he does not understand the outsider versus insider debate.
“When successful people talk about nepotism and outsider-insider, I find it ironic. I know at least 200 people who are insiders and nobody knows them. Then there are people who came out of nowhere and have made it big,” Sinha said.
Thoughts on Sushant
Sinha talked about Sushant, whose untimely death is clouded by talk of unfair contract details and films he was left out. “The guy was dealing with something that hurt him terribly. I don’t know what that was. Maybe all these stories will turn out to be right, maybe not. I hope we get to know someday whether we have made mistakes in dealing with people and get an opportunity to correct it,” Sinha said.
But there was little space for any nuanced introspection as a discussion that began with Rajput’s death took a turn.
Accusations fly thick and fast
Ranaut has labelled Rajput’s death ‘murder’. She accused Bollywood biggies of systematically working against the Chhichhore star, and promoting his image as a ‘flop actor’. Ranaut also alleged that his hits were glossed over and the figures fudged to highlight the successes of ‘insider’ films.
Ranaut dragged her Panga co-star Richa Chadha and Tanu Weds Manu co-actor Swara Bhasker into the debate. Both outspoken and both ‘outsiders’, into the controversy, she called them ‘B-grade’ actors in cahoots with Johar.
Pannu, has often spoken about being an outsider and struggling her way up. She called out Ranaut for her ‘either you are with me or against me’ narrative. Bhasker said ‘needy outsiders and B-grade actresses’ like her (Ranaut) get tangled in the web of nepotism.
Bhasker hits back
Bhasker took a swipe at Ranaut’s claims that Queen started the feminist movies trend in the Hindi film industry. “Kanganaji started parallel cinema in 1955 with Pather Panchali, in 2013, she began feminism with film Queen but even before that, she got India independence in 1947. An unknown, sycophantic, needy outsider says this while eating the fruits of sycophancy,” Bhasker wrote it.
And that is just some of it.
Kangana’s actions lauded
Scriptwriter Apurva Asrani praised Ranaut for taking a public stand against nepotistic culture. The writer-editor had an ugly falling out with Ranaut during the making of Simran.
“I applaud #KanganaRanaut who is braver and bolder than I am. Only I know how a ‘powerful’ person has viciously tried to destroy my career. I stayed silent. Because I am not so brave,” said actor and TV host Simi Grewal.
Kashyap, who worked with Ranaut as producer on Queen, joined the discourse as well.
Kashyap-Shorey spat
“Success and power is a heady cocktail that affects everyone equally, be it an insider or outsider… ‘Learn from me, be like me’. I never heard such things from her before 2014. And now it has come to that if someone is not with her, they are selfish and sycophants,” Kashyap wrote in Hindi.
He came up against ‘Khosla ka Ghosla” actor Ranvir Shorey’s tweet about indie filmmakers turning mainstream flunkies.
“So many independent-film-crusaders have turned mainstream-bollywood-flunkies now. These are the same people who used to rant 24/7 about the ‘system’ for attention. This was before they were given entry into the pearly gates of mainstream Bollywood. #Hypocrisy much?” Shorey said.
Kashyap promptly responded to Shorey’s comment. “Do you really mean that Ranvir Shorey. If you do, please explain. Please say exactly what you mean and whose flunky is who.”Shorey retorted that he always says what he means and is just trying to remind people where they come from.
And so it went on, vitriolic, personal and very public.
“Insider, outsider… I know more insiders who are outsiders & even more outsiders who are insiders. Some people are born to packs, yet remain lone wolves. Others prefer the safety of the herd no matter who are where they are born to & what profession they aspire to choose,” said actor Pooja Bhatt, whose father Mahesh Bhatt produced Ranaut’s first film Gangster.
Sadness still lingers
But somewhere in the middle of this maelstrom, the sadness over Sushant’s death lingered.
Casting director-filmmaker Mukesh Chhabra first spotted Sushant for his debut film Kai Po Che. He also directed the actor’s last movie Dil Bechara. Chhabra said he will always regret that he could not show the final film to his friend. “I keep regretting that he couldn’t see the final film,” Chhabra said.