The Decadence of Bollywood – Part I

The Decadence of Bollywood Pt. I – A Legacy of Nepotism In An Era of Privilege

As much as I hate to admit it, Bollywood is not an industry. Rather, it’s a community, a community of people who run the Indian Film Industry, whose sons and daughters run the community after them, whose grandsons and granddaughters take up the reins after them; and so it continues.

With pointless scripts without any good content, illogical remakes, false depictions of real events, objectifying women on a daily basis and actors who know nothing about acting, Bollywood is India’s bane. Bollywood doesn’t give a rat’s ass about good acting, quality content, storylines, social responsibility, editing, direction etc. Almost every crime in India can be somehow linked to Bollywood, so big is its influence over the working class.

There was this article I read a few years ago where an Indian man living in Australia was charged with stalking and sexual harassment. In court, the man said in his defence that he was not to be blamed for his actions as he had learnt the Art of Stalking from watching Hindi movies. He added that in a Hindi movie (doesn’t matter which, take your pick), the heroine initially doesn’t like the hero and loathes him or disapproves of his actions. So the hero acts like a third-class rowdy, pestering and stalking the heroine (eve-teasing and sexually harassing her) until she finally falls in love with him. This is what the man had learnt watching Bollywood movies, and that was how he perceived falling in love must be like.

The Australian lawyer defending the Indian man added that obsessively pursuing uninterested women is ‘quite normal behaviour’ for those who take their cues from Bollywood movies. The judge acquitted the man of all charges since the judge believed that the man was acting on what he had learnt all his life from Bollywood, the cabal of stupidity.

No wonder then that Varun Dhawan had the galls to compare a movie like Dilwale with the Hollywood blockbuster Inception. It’s not his fault, entirely; he was brought up with such ridiculous notions. His fault was that he thought Inception was made by someone like Karan Johar. On the other hand, Christopher Nolan, the director of Inception, just had a myocardial infarction (heart attack)!

I mean, seriously, what the hell is wrong with Bollywood? Let’s open that can of worms and have a look-see.

Nepotism Rocks – The Decadence of Bollywood

What happens when you assign a task to someone who doesn’t know how to do it? Simple – they fail miserably.

The rampant nepotism which is prevalent in Bollywood is as shameful as it is unethical. What else explains the likes of Shraddha Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Tiger Shroff getting film after film even though they’ve done nothing to prove their worth? Actors with zero knowledge in acting become superstars overnight only because they are the son/daughter of famous B-Town celebrities. Varun Dhawan, Sonam Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Tiger Shroff, Athiya Shetty, Sooraj Pancholi, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt – how many of these star-kids actually know about the art that is cinema?

On the other hand, the actors in Bollywood who do not have the privilege of being a star-kid have a dangerous road ahead of them; they struggle over and over again to get that big break in Bollywood. As a star-kid, you have several opportunities to prove your worth, but, the same cannot be said of people with no family tree in Bollywood. Ask yourself – how long did it take for Irrfan Khan or Nawazuddin Siddiqui to earn their reputation as ‘a serious performer who knows how to act’? Years.

Unfortunately, big production houses would rather cast Sonakshi Sinha than Richa Chadha or other talented actresses only because Sonakshi happens to be the daughter of the legendary Shatrughan ‘Khamosh’ Sinha.

To be fair, nepotism exists in every profession in the world. In Bollywood, however, it takes priority. Who needs talent when you have a surname?

The 100 Crore Club – The Decadence of Bollywood

 

What is this crazy fascination with the “100 Crore Club”? Does earning a hundred crore mean the movie is good, really good? Well, in that case, blockbusters like Happy New Year and Dilwale must surely be listed on IMDB’s top 250. Better yet, let us see the ratings of such movies which get the membership to this uber-premium club:

Movie	Box-Office	IMDB Rating	Star Power
Dhoom 3	585 Cr.	5.3/10	Aamir Khan
Kick	400 Cr.	5.5/10	Salman Khan
Student of the Year	200 Cr.	5.2/10	Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhat
Dilwale	395 Cr.	5.3/10	Shah Rukh Khan
Happy New Year	345 Cr.	5.2/10	Shah Rukh Khan
Chennai Express	423 Cr.	6.0/10	Shah Rukh Khan
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo	432 Cr.	4.7/10	Salman Khan

All these movies have the same things in common – they boast of major A-list actors with mind-numbing scripts of horrid content, illogical storylines, overtly sexualised and objectified women, and six-pack actors. Selling sex in the name of romance is the name of the game.

Big Deal!

Now, let us look at some quality movies from Bollywood and their collections without the so-called A-list actors:

Movie	Box-Office	IMDB Rating	Star Power
Gangs of Wasseypur	27 Cr.	8.3/10	Vajpayee, Siddiqui
Udaan	3.4 Cr.	8.2/10	Ronit Roy
Masaan	9 Cr.	8.1/10	Richa Chadha
Gulaal	5.8 Cr	8.1/10	Kay Kay Menon
Shahid	40 Cr.	8.3/10	Rajkummar Rao
Paan Singh Tomar	30 Cr.	8.3/10	Irrfan Khan

Here, these movies also have the same things in common – non-A-listers without B-Town connections, in-depth analysis of stories about the common man with brilliant acting to boot, but, none of them had the star-power required to propel such movies to the 100 Crore Club.

The horror! The horror!

Rigged Awards Ceremonies – The Decadence of Bollywood

Be it IIFA or Filmfare, the whole concept of award shows is a sham. Good movies, good performances are regularly ignored while awards are lavished on films which have done nothing to contribute to the film industry. There was this story where a senior filmmaker said that they were going to give the Best Actress award to Sridevi for her performance in English Vinglish. In fact, it was mentioned on their website that Sridevi was the winner. And yet at the last minute, they gave it to another actress. Sridevi and her husband were shocked and decided to boycott all the awards of the season thereafter. The last award ceremony that Aamir Khan attended was the Academy Awards (Oscar) way back in 2002.

Let us hear what some Bollywood biggies have to say on the matter of Indian award shows:

The fact is that I have no objections to film awards per se. I just feel that if I don’t value a particular film award, then I won’t attend it either. Apart from the national award, I don’t see any other award ceremony that I should give value to. My personal experience about these award ceremonies is that I don’t trust them. I have no faith in them so I would prefer to stay away.
– Aamir Khan

Did they (the awards) ever have any credibility?
– Naseeruddin Shah

When I was told I was getting the award for best actress in an awful film called Beimaan I said I wouldn’t accept it, not when just a few years earlier they refused to give me the award for what I thought was a commendable performance in Sharmilee. They chose to give Asha Parekh the best actress award that year for Kati Patang. Shockingly, they didn’t even give Sachin Dev Burman the best music award for his soulful music in Sharmilee. In fact, Sachin and his son Rahul Dev Burman hardly ever got awards.
– Rakhee

I feel all awards in India are rigged. You know how the business operates, it’s a money-making thing. They have to sell the function to the TV channel, promising that big stars will turn up. So, whichever star says they’ll come and perform, gets the award.
– Ajay Devgn

The popular awards are worthless and useless. They are big marketing events with no substance. A glaring omission was my film Oh My God, which didn’t get any nominations in the popular awards and there’re innumerable such sins of omission. Awards are as useless as a tail on a teddy bear.
– Paresh Rawal

All these award functions are manipulated. Organisers tell me they will give me an award but will pay half the money. I tell them please pay and keep your awards.
– Akshay Kumar

I believe that often deserving people are not awarded in Bollywood. A number of actors do a great job, but they aren’t awarded appropriately for their work … There are so many of them (award functions) that the sense of gratification which you should feel on getting an award, is hardly there.
–Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Even Varun Dhawan, a star-kid with hardly any acting chops, had something to say on this matter:

What is an award show? It’s like a TV show! I’ll be very honest, if I get one also I’ll go very happily and maybe even cry on stage. If the organizers give me money to perform, I’ll do that as well. But the last true award I had won was in a 100-meter race in school. Now they make the actor feel like it’s some software.

The Blatant Abuse of Power

In 2015, Sonam Kapoor (yes, you heard that right!) got nominated for Best Female Actor for her outstandingly boring performance in Dolly Ki Doli (IMDB 4.6/10); along with Kajol for her role in Dilwale (IMDB 5.3/10). While I had no qualms about them being nominated, I was furious about the fact that Richa Chadha and Kalki Koechlin were snubbed for their brilliant performance in Masaan and Margarita with a Straw respectively.

Another example would be Sooraj Pancholi (son of Aditya Pancholi) winning the Filmfare for Best Debut (Male) over Masaan‘s Vicky Kaushal or Titli‘s Shashank Arora. In 2007, Abhishek Bachchan got the Best Supporting Actor award for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna over Siddharth and Kunal Kapoor for Rang De Basanti. As such, any serious actor worth his salt will not pay heed to such award ceremonies as they are seldom (read never) appreciated.

Sadly, the award ceremonies in India are a kind of reality television; they’re designed to entertain viewers. For the public, these are not awards functions but television programmes where they can watch their favourite actors and actresses dance the night away. Top actors and actresses apparently charge anything from Rs. 75 Lacs to Rs. 3 Crores to perform at awards functions. In addition, most insist on getting an award before they perform on stage. The worst part is that our own actors and actresses (who we worship devotedly) who choose to act out the bias! It is the fans, all of us, who have contributed to our award functions becoming more exhibitions and lesser institutions. Sigh!

What can we expect from an unintelligent and uninspired film industry when the flag-bearers of the said industry are made up of people who don’t know the first thing about acting?

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Idiot’s Corner:

I’m not saying, not even hinting, that all star-kids are actors who don’t know acting. There are many such kids who have become a star in their own right – Hrithik Roshan would be a prime example. Exceptions are present in every case, with exceptions. Instead of looking at the 1% (exception), I urge you to look at the other 99%. Yes, not all Bollywood movies are junk; not all Bollywood actors are trash. But, most are.

 

The Decadence of Bollywood Part II will focus on the other things plaguing Bollywood – even the Harvey Weinsteins of Bollywood!