My sister, who is (disgustingly) young, with amazing skin, frequently sends me hilarious Twitter memes. Recently, she broke with her unwritten rule of Trump memes and instead, sent me a short clip of Jaya Bachan MP’s speech, strongly denouncing criticism of Bollywood, especially by those within the industry.
She used that infamous Zamandari quote of “Jis thaali mein khata hai usee mein chhed karta hai” to appeal to the mass audience.
The English equivalent is “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
The second blog…
In writing this blog, (which admittedly is two blogs too many), on nepotism, I fear that between the 24-hour news cycle in India, vicious personal insults and a general lack of sanity that occupies our public discourse in India, we will miss this opportunity to address some of the ills caused by Bollywood’s whole-hearted embrace of nepotism.
Briefly, these are monopolistic behaviour by existing players in Bollywood that controls access to opportunity. And the opportunities are beyond anyone’s wildest imagination: unrivalled fame, wealth and access to more opportunity. (see this blog)
The current drama in India reminds me of a film, “Spotlight” and I hope you see the parallels.
Spotlight is the real-life story of a team of Boston-based journalists (of the Boston Globe) who uncover damning evidence of a systemic cover-up by the Catholic Church of child abuse by the clergy.
Recently, both Harvey Weinstein and (less so Jeffrey Epstein) case are cases of systemic abuse of power and one in an entertainment industry, very similar to Bollywood. I believe its called Hollywood or something.
In my mind, what Hollywood and the Catholic Church cases have in common is this:
- Pattern of (putting it lightly) criminal behaviour against vulnerable individuals, where the balance of power is significantly in favour of the abuser
- Those involved in the cover-up persistently lie to themselves and argue that there is a “greater good” involved. (“Robby, look around you, these are our friends. The church does a lot of good in this town.”) What the greater good in covering-up the systemic abuse of the vulnerable is beyond me
- The conspiracy to cover-up involves vast numbers of people. There is a telling line in the film, “Mark my words, Mr Rezendes, if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse it.”
- There is a targetted campaign to silence victims and if that is not possible, to shred every inch of their integrity and dignity in the public eye. No woman brings on abuse on themselves
- There is an unrelenting need to erase tracks of wrongdoing, such that its as if the problem never existed. For example, if victims receive compensation, then a bulletproof Non-Disclosure Agreement follows, sweeping the crime under the carpet.
The whistleblower
Even well-established institutions, like the Catholic Church, which has been around for at least a thousand years, are not immune to the vices of evil. Reform and systemic accountability are critical for the survival of institutions that ask the public to trust them. Whether that institute is ENRON, the Catholic Church or Hollywood, none of them should be immune to scrutiny or criticism. And whistleblowers (those creating potholes in plates) are critical in identifying rotten apples in a basket or rotten orchards. They deserve 1,000% of our praise and support as a society.
My words to Jaya Bachan are this
In a moment of introspection, ask yourself is it possible that grooming and drugs are not endemic in Bollywood. If there is even a 5% chance of this happening, is it beyond the realms of imagination, that there is overlap with nepotism?
Instead of being a sub-par MP who delivers viciously terrible speeches, your legacy could be the flagbearer for reform in Bollywood.
Your influence would be far-reaching and more likely to be accepted by insiders than anything Kangana Ranaut could ever suggest.
In every person’s life, I believe there is a moment when they are called to action, by which I mean doing the right thing.
Do the right thing, Jaya Bachan. Be a leader and if you love Bollywood as much as you say you do, then spearhead much-needed regulation that nurtures and supports young talent.
In other words, get out of the mud pit and starting fighting the only battle worth taking personally.