Sorry, Bollywood Is Not The Den Of Debauchery And Vice That It’s Being Made Out To Be

The mounting uproar against the alleged hedonism of Bollywood that began rising to a crescendo after young actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, has now reached a stage where even those who have fed off the ‘Bollywood’ myth for years are calling it unflattering names. On Sunday morning, I woke up to Ms Shobha De’s column where she has spoken of “the rot within and glitz outside” in Bollywood, and “a pretty vile place… killing the dreams of outsiders.” She also mentions that the stories of drug consumption at parties are on point.  

Really? I have been to some Bollywood get-togethers with many A-listers present. No one was taking drugs there. I’ve been into the homes of the biggest of stars for years now. They pretty much lead normal, middleclass lives, with robust kitchens and active puja rooms in their homes. If they take drugs, they do it in privacy. Are we going to go after people for what they do out of the public domain? 

As far as doing drugs is concerned, every high-maintenance industry/organization in India has a section of people that indulge in drugs at some point or the other. That doesn’t make them addicts or cowboy junkies. This is the most vile and malicious narrative I’ve ever come across to malign the Indian film industry. 

Regrettably, it seems to be gaining credence as no one from within the film industry is coming forward to protest against this awful slander. The other day I had a heated chat with a top-ranking heroine whose name has been dragged most unnecessarily into the nepotism debate. When she told me that ‘they’ (she and her colleagues) had decided to not say anything at all, I reminded her that silence is usually interpreted as guilt rather than dignity. “That’s okay. Time will prove the invalidity of this bogus debate. Right now, if we say one thing in our defence, they (the anti-nepotism group) will say five things in retaliation. We are all keeping our heads down, masks up and working hard,” she said. 

http://thebrownidentity.com/2020/09/07/humayun-saeeds-throwback-look-as-an-army-officer-gives-us-all-the-right-feels/

If no insider is coming forward to defend the film industry, no one is cowering cringing in fear either. Ms De also talks about “the biggest and brightest of the lot” who is in “deep shock” and how his friends are “worried about his fragile state of mind”. I do believe she means Karan Johar (Didn’t blind items go out of fashion after Sushant’s death?). She need not worry about Karan. He is doing fine. I am in touch with him and he is in anything but “deep shock”. Trust me, he is not doing drugs nor staring at the ceiling fan. He is spending a lot of time with his children and planning projects, many of them with new talent. Speaking of new talent, has anyone noticed the number of notable contemporary directors who made their debut with Karan’s Dharma Productions? Nikhil Advani, Ayan Mukerjee, Karan Malhotra, Punit Malhotra, Shashank Khaitan, Raj Mehta, Shakun Batra, Sharan Sharma and so many others. 

To dwell any further on the nepotism debate is to feed a monster that is fattening on fabrications. Let the beast lie. Let the lies die.