Why are Bollywood’s top stars silent in the debate?
On January 7 this year, Deepika Padukone appeared on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Just two days earlier, students at the university were attacked by masked men and women – many of whom were later identified as belonging to various right-wing groups affiliated with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
At JNU, Deepika stood beside a wounded but determined Aish Ghosh. He is the student union president, whose forehead was covered in white dressing that day. A total of 15 stitches fell on the forehead after the attack.
And outside the campus, the whole country is bursting at the seams. Thousands of Indians have taken to the streets against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
That was a very powerful scene. A big star has come to the campus of a university that the Narendra Modi government has attacked in an intense political moment.
For a while, it seemed that the Indian film industry would finally wake up and open their mouths to what they had been whispering to each other for so long – the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to strangle Indian democracy. But no, that didn’t happen.
Some of Deepika’s so-called neutral colleagues have posted #respect on Twitter. However, none of the biggest stars in the industry has uttered a word. Prince Rao and Ayushman Khurana, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, Ranbir Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, the young and reckless Bollywood all of a sudden disappeared. In no way did they protest the violence across the country, except for a few public tweets. He did not support the protesters.
Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir: The Khans who once ruled the box office, their absence was easily noticed. Even Amitabh Bachchan, the ‘Angry Young Iconclast’ of the 1980s and ’80s, and who has been campaigning for Gujarat tourism for over a decade.
Meanwhile, a group of upper-caste Hindu men and women from the industry have joined the ruling party. (Hello Akshay Kumar, you are talking!)
Those so-called neutrals are still maintaining their neutrality market this September. The reason at the moment is Riya Chakraborty, who has been arrested after months of media coverage. How the government-sponsored television channels rallied against him made it clear that the whole affair was well-planned and well-organized.
Rear boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide on June 14. Since then, the BJP’s favorite television channels have risen up against Bollywood in such a way that the Producers Guild has been forced to issue a statement. However, that statement is merely a call for self-defense.
“Over the last few months, various media outlets have launched attacks on the Indian film industry. In the wake of the tragic death of a promising young actor, some continue to defame the film industry and its members. Attempts are being made to establish a scene where the industry is a bad place for outsiders, where artists from outside are despised and ridiculed, and where it is a breeding ground for terrorism and crime. The media is increasing its ratings, readership and page views”.
Meanwhile, Bollywood’s selfie gang – Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal and several other industry insiders – have realized that no matter how many pictures are taken with dictatorial politicians before the election,,, they are no longer safe after the election results.
One thing needs to be said here- Deepika at JNU but did not say a word. He stood silently as the students shouted slogans around him. And then he left without saying a word in front of the camera.
So the responsibility of opening the mouth finally falls on the shoulders of those old sinners. I am talking about Swara Bhaskar, Richie Chadda, Zoya Akhtar, Tapsi Pannu, Anubhav Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Hansal Mehta, Ali Fazal, Kankana Sen Sharma, Nandita Das. They have been doing this since Narendra Modi and the BJP came to power in 2014.
Also on the list are Dia Mirza, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub, Sushant Singh, Shashank Aurora, Saini Gupta and producer Alankruta Srivastava, Anir.
Only Sonam Kapoor regularly expresses her views on various issues among those who are’ Star Kids.’ And for this, he has to be a victim of systematic trolls.
Interestingly, many of the mentioned artists are but the real outsiders of Bollywood. They are the struggling, hard-working artists who talk about showing sympathy through #justiceforsushant.
The parents of these artists have no production company, none of their nephews run movie studios, nor are their sibling’s well-known filmmakers. Moreover, almost none of them are the highest-paid actors in the industry, nor do they have the ability to wage legal battles, keep bodyguards, or hire a top publicist to delete hate comments against them from Instagram or Twitter feeds.
They are the artists who are losing their roles, sponsors or contracts in the film one by one. Because of their guilt, they speak their minds openly while they are insignificant in number. Speaking to Halfpost India, several actors said that if everyone in the industry had opened their mouths together and protested against injustice, the whole picture would have been completely different.
Swara Bhaskar, a staunch critic of various contemporary events, said she had been dropped from a skincare brand deal for her bold comments. His termination letter states that he has either defied the brand by protesting against the CAA.
The actor further said that his so-called problematic values had been discussed many times before considering him in any role.
“The last film (Vire The Wedding) that I did made 100 crores at the box office. But since then I have not been able to work in any big film. None of my pictures was released in 2019. Streaming platforms are the only way for us to survive now, but I know that my name has been dropped from several studio meetings because I care too much about politics”.
Swara said Bollywood’s culture of silence largely represents Indian patriarchal families, who avoid any opposition to protect their masculinity.
“It has been inculcated in every nook and cranny of our family structure that silence is politeness. This is not just the fear of retaliation by the state. Of course, there is, but overall, our culture is a culture of avoidance. It is considered a matter of honor not to participate in any debate here. But for how long? At the moment, we are suffering from a crisis of existence. If you do not stand up for your own interests, then who will stand up?”
When Suryapal Amu, a key member of the BJP, literally priced Deepika’s head for her performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Padmavat,’ Swara spoke in favor of Deepika.
“When I talked about my own problems with the climax of Padmavati, many actors told me they agreed with my point of view, but my words should not have been said publicly. From this, you can understand why many people prefer to remain silent instead of taking a stand for one.”
Another actor, who did not want to be named, said that some of the top stars enjoy a few levels of security, with the less powerful outsiders having the most problems. But even then, those top stars do not want to open their mouths.
“I know Varun Dhawan himself is a very liberal boy. He understands these things very well. What does he have to lose if he takes a stand on these issues? Your father has a production company, and your brother is a director, you are the jewel in Karan Johar’s eye. Are you still afraid of losing so much?”
Anurag Kashyap, of course, thinks a little differently. He said
“This industry is very scary. This is because of the current state of the government and the way they treat those who oppose it. I sometimes wonder if even the bravest Hollywood stars would open their mouths if they were Indians living in India. For many years we have been pressured not to speak out against power. Every day I hear lectures on this from my friends and family.”
For the past six years, the decision-makers of Bollywood studios and the creative leaders of advertising agencies have been opposed to a very specific kind of politics. Only those who speak out against the government or who want to convey that the day is not really ‘well’ are given the title ‘political’ next to their names. Meanwhile, those who always sing the praises of the Prime Minister are considered to be very reliable stars. (Hello again, Akshay!)
The two biggest stars of the country are Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, who are Muslims. In 2015, they opened their mouths to growing intolerance, which led many to turn against them. So since then, they have been completely silent.
“I’ve stopped commenting on things that I consider unfortunate.”
Shah Rukh Khan said this in an interview in July 2016. His film ‘Dilwale’ was released in December of the previous year, which caused a great deal of controversy, and many called for a boycott of the film.
Meanwhile, when Aamir Khan opened his mouth, he had to lose the e-commerce company Snapdeal’s brand ambassador contract within a few days.
However, a person is still surviving from public anger even after opening his mouth again and again. He is Tapsi Pannu. For years, however, he has been protesting right-wing trolls, speaking out on various issues, and even participating in various anti-CAA / NRC movements in Mumbai.
“Many people tell me that I am risking my career by saying something in public. But I think if I do not open my mouth to the things that I feel very deeply, then the matter will look very strange. Rather I can say that I give my opinion on various issues and some brands have come to me just by seeing a woman with a strong mind. I am not at all ashamed of this image of mine. Rather I want my audience to be aware of my thoughts.”
However, according to Tapsi, the way he criticizes various issues saves him a lot from public outrage.
“Perhaps the expression of my opinion is not of the same extremist ideology like many others. I look at any problem or crime from the place of that problem or crime. I oppose sin, not sinners. That is why I think the people do not go against me.”
Tapsi also thinks that the responsibility of opening one’s mouth on any issue rests with a few people, perhaps because Bollywood is a huge industry whose members do not see the world in the same way, and that is a big problem.
“As a group, if we had a more unified position, we probably wouldn’t be where we are today when the industry is constantly being bullied. I don’t think we should stand in this place today. Many fights from a personal position, but if we fought together, our strength would increase a lot more.”
Tapasi believes that everyone should leave their grievances behind and become united.
“Remember, if this industry starts to become irrelevant, then nothing will come of the conflict. No one can survive as a single star. If you try to pull down a certain person, then at some point everyone will fall down.”
Some young stars of Halfpost India Bollywood sent detailed messages to Vicky Kaushal, Rajkumar Rao, Ayushman Khurana to find out why they kept such a relentless silence. Surprisingly, there was no response from any of them.