Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide EXPOSED the flawed audience view of NEPOTISM and proved again why films are merely a form of BUSINESS

Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide on June 14 left us all in shock. When actors like Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan Khan passed away, we cried a lot, but we knew that they were ill and probably were suffering. Sadly, in the case of Sushant Singh Rajput, we didn’t have that knowledge. The fact that he was suffering from depression within himself was not a thing that was common knowledge, and that’s why when a rising superstar like him commits suicide, you are brought to a halt with a jolt.

After his suicide, numerous people came forth and spoke about how he was facing depression and how he was not getting work and whatnot. Everyone wanted to have their own 2-minutes of fame. You all must have already seen the videos of Sushant Singh Rajput openly admitting that he didn’t have more than 2 friends in the film industry. So why do these people come forth and talk so heavily about being sorry for not being there for Sushant in his crisis?

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People on social media have already started unfollowing stars like Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, Sonam Kapoor and others who have been bashed a lot for not talking to Sushant ever before and now suddenly sympathising with him as if he was their closest buddy. He surely was not, but he definitely would have wanted to.

Well, that’s a discussion for another time. Today, I want to talk of people crying out loud ‘Nepotism’.

The media and the fans have been crying out loud against Nepotism ever since Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide. They have been blaming the movie makers and other celebs for not wanting to work with outsiders. While all the allegations are true, to an extent, but isn’t that the case with any other field?

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I am no one to be siding with the Nepotism gang, considering I myself am not from this land of Bollywood, but if we look at it objectively, we would be able to see the reality.

Let’s take an example. A person owns a very successful printing press in a small town. He sends his son to study engineering at a far off college in a different state. He gets a job in an IT firm after finishing off his engineering and after a couple of years of working in that firm, one day the boy decides to return back to his hometown just to join up his dad’s printing press. He comes back and starts working in his dad’s position at the press and after a couple of years, he takes the printing press to global standards and starts getting business from all over the globe. It’s a happy story, for sure.

But isn’t it sheer nepotism, right? Like just because the son had seen his father running the printing press for say 17-18 years of his initial life, it gave him the right and the knowledge to make sure that he is able to take over the press and make it even bigger than what it was before!

It’s the same with films.

For all people thinking that films are a social service just because the celebs are constantly in the public eye, let’s get one thing clear, FILMS ARE MERELY BUSINESS for the ones financing them and producing them.

Why shouldn’t a Karan Johar or an Aditya Chopra take an Alia Bhatt or a Tiger Shroff in their films whom they have seen growing up in front of their eyes for almost 17-18 years? These producers have the confidence that these star kids can bring back returns for their business (which is films). Then why shouldn’t they take a chance on them? Why should they take a shot at someone whom they have known just for a day or two of an audition and decide to invest Rs 50-70 crores on their shoulders? Isn’t that a bit too much to be asking from a businessman who wants to earn money, at the end of the day?

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Would the father owning the printing press, give away Rs 50-70 crores to a person who has come from a faraway town and the father has met him for just a day or two? I don’t think so. He would much rather trust his own son or maybe his nephew or niece whom he has seen growing up all his life, and now has the belief that they would do well to better the printing business.

I am not denying the fact that a one-off case does happen. It has happened before as well that a person from a smaller town comes up to Mumbai with a great story, takes it to these giants, and these giants do love their scripts and they, at times, decide to give that person a shot. Even newbie actors have been given chances once in a while. The film industry biggies have done it many times. I agree they have given their known star kids many more chances, but they have given an odd outsider a chance once in a while.

After all, it’s their business, and they are the only ones who can decide as to whom they want to put their money on.

Talking of Sushant Singh Rajput, KJo did give him a ‘Drive’ and Aditya Chopra gave him films like ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’ and ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’. Sometimes the movies didn’t turn up to be great, and sometimes the audiences didn’t like them too much.

Purely as a businessman, when someone doesn’t end up giving high returns on your investment, why would you want to continue to give that person more chances?

We the audience didn’t give that much love to the films which in turn compelled these production houses to back away from Sushant. Honestly, look back at yourself and answer how many of you have watched ‘Sonchiriya’ – a film which was probably one of SSR’s finest performance?

At the same time, we as audiences made sure that a ‘Student Of The Year’ or a ‘Baaghi’ goes on to give 5-10 times the return of the money put in to make them? Then why shouldn’t these big production houses not give the Alia Bhatts and the Tiger Shroffs back-to-back films?

We, as an audience, need to change. Rather than crying out loud that the film industry is shrouded with nepotism, we need to start watching films which have better content or in this case, a better actor like Sushant Singh Rajput. At the same time, we should be not giving in our hard-earned money for an actor whose film’s story seems trashy from the trailer and reviews.

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I shall end it by saying, films are merely a business for the people investing their money in it. So there’s no point in crying ‘nepotism’ or foul play in that. Let’s remember Sushant for the brilliant films that he did like ‘Kai Po Che’ or ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’, ‘Kedarnath’, ‘Chhichhore’ and many others.

Also Read: Sushant Singh Rajput Commits Suicide: Lesser known facts about the rising superstar

Prateek Sur

Born a Movie Buff, working as a Film Critique and enjoying life as a Bollywood Reporter.

Email: editor@bollywoodbubble.com Phone: +91 8355910465