Each year, thousands of Indian youngsters put their foot in Bollywood – the “city of dreams” – Mumbai. Well I personally do not consider it a city of dreams anymore. Not anymore – you read that right! Not in my perspective.
Today, 1 Billion people of India are coming to the realization that there’s deep existence of Nepotism in the Bollywood industry.
Table of Contents
Before we learn, “WHAT ALL ACTORS MUST UNDERSTAND”, let us first understand how Nepotism effects the life of the outsiders/ actors that are not born into a Bollywood family already –
How Nepotism effects the life of the outsiders/ actors that are not born into a Bollywood family already
Getting Movies Becomes More Difficult Than Ever
1. Getting movies becomes more difficult than ever. An aspiring actor may approach a lot of directors/ producers etc. but nobody is ready to take in someone who is new and is not already the son/daughter of a Director/ Actor. Not that easily. We all have heard of the so-called compromises made by aspiring actors & actresses.
The Payment Cycle in the Industry Is Very Slow
2. Even if you do get the ads or movies, the payment cycle in the industry is very slow. Now when you are an outsider, you don’t have a Dad who would call the Director to get the payment done on time. You just have to simply wait.
Not all Suicides are Suicides
The most important point to be noted about Bollywood is that not all the suicides (announced) are really suicides.
There were more suicides that were in reality – murders. This is a publicly known secret.
Everybody knows that Sushant Singh Rajput [SSR] was murdered in 2021. There are many proofs that we already have. For instance, when the photos of SSR were circulated on the social media, Sajid Nadiadwala wrote a letter to the Home Minister of India to remove the photos. The reason he gave was that the photos were “disturbing”. But we all know that it was only after the photos were removed that the case supporting “the murder” became very weak. Journalists and Doctors that were supporting the case for murder had to stop because the pictures were suddenly unavailable.
There are more instances like this…
When a very well known and upcoming actress Divya Bharti was murdered, the media told that she jumped off her house balcony. But the photos spoke exactly the opposite. The height of the balcony was much higher for a person to fall off the balcony by himself/herself unless pushed or forced to.
After the death of Divya Bharti, her husband Sajid Nadiadwala (yes, he is same guy that you read about in the previous para) did second marriage within one month of her death. At that time, the rumor was that Divya Bharti had come to know about the Drug & the Underworld connection of Sajid Nadiadwala and was not ready to accept it. So Sajid Nadiadwala married somebody who accepted his life of underworld connections.
God knows how much dirty money is being circulated in this industry.
Actors who dream of making it big in Bollywood therefore, must come to an understanding about two things –
Bollywood Gutter: Times Have Changed
A. Times have changed. There was a time when Superstar Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Kajol were newcomers in Bollywood and the industry was also growing. People of this country looked up to the stars as idols. But today times have changed.
The big movie industry is completely contaminated with the dirt of drugs, mafia underworld and what not. There are many movies that have been made on existing issues such as “Sanju” a biographical film based on the life of the actor Sanjay Dutt, the movie “Haseena Parkar” and many more.
Inconsistency in the Revenue Share
B. Considering the un-evenness and inconsistency of the revenue or the fee shared with the actors as a reward for their work, actors must come to an understanding that while it is best to follow one’s passion but it is even more intelligent to do some work in addition to acting that would then support them in order to follow their passion. Sometimes, the money-generation process from our passion takes time.
An intelligent man does that which is necessary. While we believe in ourselves that we can become great actors [AND WE MUST], we should also do anything and everything that is required to help us reach a break-even point where we can generate consistent income from our passion. This is what is called “Hustling” and it pays in the long-run.
I believe that the very established actors in Bollywood already came to this understanding about the unevenness of the revenue early. While one does earn well in Bollywood, that’s true! but WHEN they get paid is not entirely in one person’s hands. There is a system of the flow of money and it takes a lot of time for things to work here
No doubt many great actors in Bollywood have worked in multiple jobs before they got established as one of the biggest stars in India and the world.
Akshay Kumar: Before becoming an actor, Akshay Kumar used to work as a chef at the Hilton Hotel in Bangkok. He also learnt martial arts to change his career. Then he returned to India and started teaching martial arts which eventually led him to becoming a stuntman and an action choreographer in the films. So he basically chose to do that which was right for him at that point in time.
Akshay was not waiting for a movie to come and pay him the money. We all know that Akshay acted in most action movies, also as a supporting actor at the starting of his career. He could have argued that the supporting roles would not direct his life towards becoming a lead actor but he did that which was necessary anyway. At that time, the necessary action for Akshay was to earn money and take care of himself. Also, this step is so important because the models and the actors have to take care of their health firstly and also look good.
Remember This
Always remember one thing, if you really want to achieve great heights in your life, you will be given more problems than usual. But you must understand that these problems are an opportunity for you to make yourself capable for the greater things that are coming your way. You must learn how to walk before you start running, right? You must learn to take this life as a game.
And You must not give up if you wish to become great.
I can write about the life of many other actors that have other businesses too apart from Acting. But I guess you can do that research for your own favorite actor yourself.
There could be many questions in your mind such as –
What would people say if I do that job along with acting?
We all need to understood that people will always keep on saying something or the other. So a person should be wise enough to just do that which is necessary. You would be shocked to know that while In India we think a lot about what “Level/ Kind of work” the other person is doing but that is not the case in many other countries.
Diana, the Princess of Wales had studied a lot and educated herself with many skills but did not settle anywhere in any job. Instead, she found peace & happiness in handling the kids in the Kindergarten.
Even after she became the Princess, she continued to go to Kindergarten for sometime before taking her responsibility as a Princess. She did not think, “Oh My God, what will people think of me if I take care of these kids”. And that is exactly what happened. When Diana started going for charity work, the media printed that Diana’s love & empathy is not only for the kids but the adults and the old too.
So we can see that it’s all about perspective and how the story is built up. What matters the most is that You are taking care of yourself, that you love yourself and that you do that which is necessary.
Let me know what you think about this post. I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to comment below.