India is celebrating 75 years of its independences from the clutches of colonialism. In Indian movies’ terminology it is the Diamond Jubilee on India’s Independence. The country is celebrating this day with Har Ghar Tiranga campaign and Bollywood too is not far behind. Two of its leading superstars viz. Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar presented their movies on this weekend. Every now and then, Indian film industry has made some really good films on patriotism and social issues like Mother India, Upkar, Kranti, 1942: A love story, Border, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Shershah and many more. But their are few things that are plaguing Bollywood for long and it is high time that the Hindi Film industry gets rid of them. FinancialExpress.com has compiled a list of top five things that Bollywood needs to get rid of this independence day:
Nepotism: Lets begin by addressing the elephant in the room. Nepotism or favouratism is a long standing debate in Bollywood something that started well before Kangana Ranaut dropped the N-Bomb on Karan Johar in his chat show. Film directors like Anurag Kashyap and Ram Gopal Varma in their earlier days did complain about the existence of camps in Bollywood and their power to make or break careers. There are ‘Khandans’ or clans in Bollywood but and star kids get their first break much more easier than the outsiders. But those who deny it say that if Bollywood has Ranbir Kapoor, there is also Nawazuddin Siddiqui and for every Ananya Pandey there is a Bhumi Pednekar!
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Gender Disparity: The movie business in India is extremely patriarchal. Male actors not only rule it in-front of the camera, the gender disparity gets much darker behind the camera. There are hardly any female technicians in Bollywood. Except for few like Zoya Akhtar, Juhi Chaturvedi or Nandita Das, the number of females behind camera is abysmal. And onscreen, 50-60 year old male actors romance young girls half their age while for a female actor the shelf life ends at around 35 years or marriage, which ever comes first. “Female superstars” are paid only 25%-40% of what heroes get. And every now and then there are casting couch rumors. Bollywood needs to be a much more welcoming and safe place for women.
Plagiarism: Movie making is a creative field and creativity is not everyone’s cup of tea. Bollywood has been accused of plagiarism for long. From movie plots, to music and lyrics, it has been accused of copying or taking ‘inspiration’ from Hollywood, Iranian, Korean and many other film industries. Even Pakistani movie makers have accused Bollywood music directors of lifting their song without any credit.
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Vanity: Bollywood is obsessed with Chittiyan Kalayian. Its standard of beauty is extremely flawed. It promotes white skin in songs and promotes extremely objectionable standards of beauty. Now a days everyone in Bollywood is obsessed with airport looks which again presents unrealistic fashion goals. Bollywood needs to be more real in fashion and less obsessed with skin color.
Standing for the right causes: Bollywood was asked to bend but it started crawling. Once open a time, Bollywood gave gems like Achhoot Kanya, Balika Vadhu, Mother India, Aandhi, Kissa Kursi Ka, Roti Kapda aur Makan and many socially relevant films which gave subtle political messages as well. Not any more. For one Tare Zameen Par, there are four Housefulls. Bollywood need to find its lost touch with reality and that fine balance where it can give messages without compromising on entertainment value.