"Hello, friends! " Today's the 14th of June. It has been exactly one year since we lost Sushant Singh Rajput. "A very talented actor, a superb dancer" and an entertainer that had a lot of interest in things like space and quantum mechanics. He enjoyed watching stars and planets with his enormous telescope. "A rare celebrity on whose social media," you'd find everything from cryptic philosophical posts to poetry. He had many dreams. "In fact, he was an entire world in and of himself." "The day when we got to know of his death," not only Bollywood but also the entire country was shocked. Everyone was shocked when they got to know about it. "And after his death, the topic 'Nepotism' was much talked about." Nepotism was a topic that was slandered a lot. While some jobless people used it for their own publicity. "At other places, it became political fodder." But nowhere did we see any constructive debate on Nepotism. About the solutions to counter this problem. "In today's Blog, friends, I'd like to speak on this topic." And talk about these solutions. What exactly is Nepotism? How can we counter it?
Let's try to find out in today's Blog. Nepotism
is a topic that came to the forefront even a few years ago when three celebrities said this in an award
show. """Nepotism
Rocks!""" """Nepotism
Rocks!"" ""Nepotism Rocks!""" What sense did it have? How can a thing like Nepotism be celebrated? Should they have said 'nepotism rocks' or
'talent rocks'? "Friends, there are
some celebrities that" compare
nepotism with quota. Like some people
get a quota (or reservation) while giving an exam and they want nepotism to be considered as
such. """In the entrance
test, I had a particular quota," "star
kid children, they have 30% quota.""" Not only this some celebrities also believe
that nepotism helps to get the first
film only. "After which, only the
person's talent plays a role." "Someone
should ask them, is it that easy to get the first film?" "For an outsider, it is a huge
achievement to get the first film in Bollywood." They have to struggle tirelessly to reach
that point. These are the arguments used
to justify nepotism. The second question
here is to what extent do we get to see
nepotism? Let's talk of the Bollywood
industry first. "First, the entire
Kapoor family." Prithvi Raj
Kapoor's son Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor's
son Rishi Kapoor. And Rishi Kapoor's son
Ranbir Kapoor. Raj Kapoor's other son
Randhir Kapoor. Randhir Kapoor's
daughter Kareena Kapoor. "Second,
Sharmila Tagore's son Saif Ali Khan."
And Saif Ali Khan's daughter Sara Ali Khan. The third is the family of Dharmendra. His sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. His daughter Esha Deol. His nephew Abhay Deol. "And now Sunny Deol's son has also
debuted, Karan Deol." He got a role
in one of the latest movies. The lead
role. "Other than this, Suniel
Dutt's son Sanjay Dutt." Amitabh
Bachchan's son Abhishek Bachchan. Rakesh
Roshan's son Hrithik Roshan. There are
so many examples in Bollywood of this that
one has to look thoroughly to find the outsiders. Where and who is an outsider? Among the few names that come to my mind "is of Sushant Singh Rajput
himself," one would be Ayushmann
Khurrana. Another is Rajkumar Rao. Now I'd like to ask you a critical question. Should we count only the children of the
actors and actresses among 'Star Kids' for nepotism? "The famous filmmakers, directors and
writers," shouldn't their children
getting roles offered be also counted for nepotism? Like filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's daughter Alia
Bhatt. Who has become a superstar now.
Shall she be also counted for nepotism? There are many more examples of this. Salim Khan's son Salman Khan. Javed Akhter's son Farhan Akhter. "In fact, Amir Khan's father and uncle
were film producer and filmmaker." Now
I'd like to take this question a step further.
Politician's children who've become actors. Riteish Deshmukh. His father Vilas Rao Deshmukh was the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra for two terms. Did
he use his power to help his son become an actor or to get a film? What do you think? Had nepotism played a role here as well? "Actually, let's go a step
further." If a superstar's parents
aren't Bollywood insiders or politicians themselves but they have a very close connection with
politicians and Bollywood insiders Amitabh
Bachchan's father the legendary poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and his mother Teji Bachchan. It's believed that they had a very close
connection with the former Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi. And look at this
photo.
Shah Rukh Khan's mother is standing with the PM Indira
Gandhi. "Can it be possible that at
the beginning of his career," Shah
Rukh Khan might've gotten some help because of this connection? Maybe. Maybe not. "But I'd like to tell you one
fact," Shah Rukh Khan and Irfan
Khan had started out around the same time.
"But ever since the beginning, Shah Rukh Khan got lead roles first
in TV and later in films." But
Irfan Khan had to wait for 15 years to
get lead roles in films. There's a
similar story involving Amitabh Bachchan as well. "Ever since he landed in Bombay, he has
been getting lead roles." "So
definitely, the topic of nepotism arises here as well." Do the influential people use their
connections to help their children in
such a way that is unfair to the rest? "Till now, I've talked about the
connections only." What happens if
money is used to get this unfair advantage?
Should that be counted as nepotism too?
Suppose Vijay Mallaya wants to launch his son Siddharth Mallaya in a
lead role in a Bollywood film How
difficult will it be for him to do so? He
has unimaginable wealth. There are some
connections as well. But his wealth is
his strength. It will be very easy for
him to do this. "Actually friends,
in my opinion, all these examples" will
fall into the category of nepotism. To a
different degree. "In some, there
is only a little nepotism."
"In others, nepotism plays a significant role." Here I'd like to clarify one thing before
moving on with the Blog. I'm not saying that I'm against all the Star
Kids that have come through nepotism. There
are many star kids who might've used
nepotism to some degree but they are
quite talented. "Shah Rukh Khan,
Amir Khan are very talented actors."
Vicky Kaushal is the son of a very famous action director. He's very talented. Konkana Sen.
Not only talented but there are also many hard-working people. "But, friends, the concern here is
that" talent should be supported. It shouldn't matter if one is an insider or
an outsider. As long as the talent is
being supported. "And second, the
outsiders," are they getting equal
opportunity to rise to the same level? Maybe
not. And this isn't in Bollywood only. It is evident in several other sectors in the
country. Just look at politics. The Gandhi family in politics. "Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul
Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi." It's
quite a long tradition here. Does anyone
other than a member of the Gandhi family
get the same opportunity to rise to the same level in the Congress
party? This is the most famous example
that everyone knows about. "But in
reality, there are many other examples as well." Rajesh Pilot's son Sachin Pilot. Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tejasvi Yadav. Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav. "And a party like BJP too, that projects
itself as being against nepotism," "has
politicians Jyotiraditya Scindia, Varun Gandhi, Anurag Thakur." "In fact, in 2019's Lok Sabha,
friends" approx 30% MPs of the Lok
Sabha belong to some political family or
the other. "Basically, one-third of
our politicians." The political
families don't just favour having their children being politicians only. Rather there are even examples "like of Amit Shah's son Jay Shah," who has reached one of the top posts in the
BCCI. Could this have been possible
without any influence? Is this not
nepotism? "Of course, it is." Let's move on from politics to journalism.
Here too will you get to see such examples. Vidya Vilas Purie co-founded the Thomson
Press in 1967. "And later, its
chairman was his son Aroon Purie." "And
currently, its Managing Director is Ankur Purie." The son of Aroon Purie. India Today magazine was also started by him
in 1975. In which the founding publisher
was again his son Aroon Purie. His
daughter Madhu was the founding editor. "And
in October 2017, Aroon Purie gave his daughter Kalli Purie the post of
Vice-Chairperson." The same story
can be seen in those media organizations as well that claim to be the most vocal against
nepotism. "In Republic TV," a journalist that resigned from Republic TV
had accused the organization that though
Arnab Goswami is the head there but the
operations are actually managed by Arnab Goswami's wife. """His wife, being Arnab's
wife," she has every right to be in
the organization. I'm nobody to
challenge it. "But when you have
the galls to lecture other people about Nepotism," when you're saying 'why this so-called star
son has become a star' so then you
should also have the courage "to
practice whatever you're preaching to others.""" "Friends, nepotism like this is present
not only in" "the politics,
journalism and Bollywood, it also in our law and justice system." Look at the screen. There are several Hon’ble Supreme Court
judges "in whose family someone or
the other," "either someone's
father or uncle, had been a Judge in Supreme Court." "Here again, I'd like to
reiterate," I'm not saying that
these Supreme Court judges are in any
way less intelligent or less qualified. These
are very highly qualified and intelligent judges.
But I'm asking just this
"because someone in their family had been a judge in the Supreme
Court," did they not have some sort
of an unfair advantage over other people?
"Of course, they did have some." The same thing can be seen with doctors. "When someone in the family is a
doctor," they can easily help their
children become doctors. Business is
another field where this is evident. Where
often it is the children of the businessmen
that become the next Chairperson or CEO.
"Apart from all these, Money Nepotism also plays a huge role
here." "The children born to
rich families," life is relatively
easier for them to quite an extent. "Nowadays
if someone is born into a rich family,"
suppose Abhishek Bachchan's daughter says that she wants to become a commercial pilot "but it will cost crores to get the
license," they can definitely
afford to pay for it. If Shah Rukh
Khan's son says tomorrow that "though
he has failed the entrance exam of the college," "he still wants to study in the same
field," they can very easily afford
to get an education from the best but expensive private schools in the world. "And friends, the interesting thing is
that this" applies to all of our
lives to various extent and levels. "Now,
I'm from a middle-class family." "If
I tell my parents that I want to drop studies for one year and focus only on
YouTube," my parents do have enough
money that they can afford to feed me and house me.
"Even if I don't work or earn for a year, they can
easily afford to pay for my expenses."
But if a son of a poor family says this
"that he wants to focus on YouTube and will not work for a
year," a poor family living in the
slums cannot afford this. They will not
be free to do it. They will need to work
and earn. So they may never be able to
afford such careers. This is known as
Privilege. All of us have some
privileges in our lives at varying degrees.
"On a personal individual level," we should be thankful for this privilege. And this same thing is applicable to all
these Superstar Kids that have come into
the industry through their connections and influences. That got the right opportunities. The best response from them might be that they acknowledge their privilege and acknowledge that the outsiders cannot get opportunities of this level that they have gotten an opportunity that 99%
of the people will not get and that they
are grateful for it. "But by doing
this, it doesn't stop here." What
of those children from the families living in poverty? Living in slums? Those that don't even have wholesome water to
drink at their homes. Their houses do
not get electricity properly. They don't
have access to proper health facilities.
They don't have access to good education. They are forced to grow up in those
conditions.
"And it is 10 times, 100 times more difficult for them
to rise up to this level." "Yes,
there certainly are some examples and inspirational stories" "like Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam," "he used to sell newspapers
initially," he started from the
very bottom and grew to the level that he reached. "But friends, it is important for us to
know that" these examples are very
very very rare. We can't use these
examples to show that "if he could,
you can do it too." "If we
start saying this to the poor people,"
it wouldn't make their lives better.
We need to give them equal opportunities. But do you know the real problem? "When it is tried to have an equal
starting line for all," some people
start blaming these underprivileged families.
"When the Government tries to give free electricity, free
education, free healthcare, free water"
"to the poor people," "or
free scholarships and free schemes,"
"or tries to create reservations for them," then some people start calling these people
freeloaders. They taunt them at using
free facilities. That they don't want to
get things themselves and are all freeloaders.
Such things are said to them. Think
for a minute. Is it not our hypocrisy to
blame them? And to blame government
schemes? When it is tried to make the
same starting line. "For the
solutions to deal with the issue of Nepotism," "if we can take inspiration from
someone,"
it can be no other
than Sushant Singh Rajput himself. "In
Sushant's Dreams list," there were
several projects like sending more than
100 underprivileged kids to NASA or ISRO to train. He wanted to encourage such things. "And when he gave his views on
nepotism," he had said this. " ""Nepotism is there, is
there, is everywhere." It's not
just in Bollywood. So nepotism can
coexist. And nothing would happen. "But at the same time, if" you deliberately don't allow "right talent to come up," "then there is a
problem.""" He had accepted
that nepotism is a reality. And it can
be seen everywhere in almost every aspect of life. "When you have kids," you will try your best to give them the best
possible life. There's nothing wrong
with it. Sushant Singh Rajput believed
that nepotism can coexist. But the focus should be on creating the same
starting line. To give a fair chance to
other people. That is the most important
thing. "In his life, he worked hard
to achieve this." "So I
believe, that if you really love him and respect him" then learn from him. "Uselessly trolling, starting trends on
Twitter" "and abusing other
actors and superstars, will lead you nowhere." Learn from him and in a positive way try to help underprivileged people in
different aspects and fields of life. Try
to bring equality of opportunity in society.
And encourage and pressurize the government to do the same. Doing this will truly be the most respectful
thing you can do for Sushant Singh Rajput.
I hope you've liked the blog friends.
Let's meet in the next blog. Thank
you very much!