The Early Days of Bollywood
Not so long ago, the movie world or Bollywood was considered “bad”. Women entering the film world were ex-communicated from their respective communities and were thought of as women with low morals. Then there was an earlier era where men dressed as women played the female lead. No woman from a “good” family would “act” in a movie. Unthinkable today !
We have come a long way from those days and I am glad we have. Women don’t have to be immoral to work in the movies nor do they have to be ex-communicated. Today we are free to choose acting as a career. Just as we are free to choose medicine, engineering, maths or the armed forces as a career.
All of a sudden the film world became this glamorous, perfectly normal place to work. Models chose to become actors as a natural career progression. With social media, the stars got up close and personal with their fans. I am a huge fan of Rekha, but I have no way of reaching out to her because in her era there was no Twitter ! While the new age actors like Kangana Ranaut and Deepika Padukone have a huge social media presence.
The Bollywood KKKKKHans
In the initial years of the Bombay film industry, a legend called Yusuf Khan had to rename himself as Dilip Kumar, just to be accepted. More recently a certain Sushant Singh Rajput had to drop Rajput from his name just to sell a movie called “Padmavat”. A certain Khan is chaddi-buddy with the nincompoop dynast. Another Khan “acts” through a program named “Satyameva Jayate”. The same Khan’s Hindu wife feels unsafe in “Modi-fied” India. She feels absolutely safe as her husband hobnobs with the Islamic fundamentalist President of Turkey.
The most famous Khan is lovingly called “Enfant Terrible”. This even as he allegedly runs over people sleeping on the pavement accidentally. He allegedly shoots the revered “black buck” for fun. Harasses a Miss World. He has a string of women walking in and out of his life who continue to sing his praises. Best of all, for every mistake, he gets his father to apologise. Well educated, sensible women titter in the audience as he speaks of how difficult a particular shoot was by comparing it to rape.
Why am I going on about all this ?
The recent death of Sushant Singh Rajput has taken the lid off the cauldron called “Bollywood”. His untimely death has shown us the real face of this beast. Unfortunately, the face is made up of drugs and debauchery, well funded by the D-gang. The outsider-insider camps, the privileged star kids, and everyone chasing after the mirage called stardom. Some people have the talent, but their movies don’t succeed. Some people who do succeed are drawn into the web of the dreaded three D’s. Very few succeed and remain out of this ring.
I read three Tweets of Kangana’s today and it was sad to see the film industry become such a hellhole. I am not saying its only Bollywood. The Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil film industries have a similar story. Just like Delhi is incorrectly considered India, Bollywood is considered to be THE film industry.
Kangana’s Tweets
This young woman has guts, bucket loads of it. She has talent too, bucket loads of it. I am becoming a huge fan of hers. “Stars”, the dreaded D-gang’s leader or many other “macho” men don’t have her kind of courage. I wish she gets enough security because she has put herself in danger.
Will the movie world become a safe, proper place of work ? Its utopian to wish for that. There is too much money involved. When &*@#load of money is involved, drugs, debauchery and the mafia (d-gang) cant be far away. I guess the government can only clean up one part of this dreaded triangle – the D-gang.
The D-gang leader is holed up in Pakistan, the home for every terrorist. Everyone knows. Rumours surface about sightings, doc visits and ill health. Like a phoenix, he comes alive. Someday, he will meet his maker. Hopefully that day his D-empire goes up in smoke. Drugs and debauchery though are individual choices. Unless one remains vigilant, there is little that external forces can do.
I feel sad for Sushant Singh Rajput’s father and sisters. It appears, a young life was cut short for “money”. What a price to pay for fame :(:(.
#SushantSinghRajput