Bollywood Archives - The Common Man Speaks

Serious CENSORSHIP rule has got proposed & here’s how you can stop it

July 1, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The central government has proposed the draft Cinematograph Amendment Bill 2021 through which they get the power to recertify a film passed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) or Censor Board, as it’s popularly known.

If we take away the technical jargons, if the new bill comes into action, it would mean that even if a film is cleared by the CBFC for release, the Central Government will have the power to recertify it. In other words, it will also have the power to take away the certificate, which would mean that a particular film would be stopped from releasing.

In more simple terms, as filmmaker Pratik Kothari said in an interview with the publication Cinestaan.com, we know how students have a right to re-evaluate their paper if they are not happy with the marks. But the new bill would mean that the examiner himself would re-evaluate a student’s paper just because he thinks the student deserves these many marks.

The reason why such an amendment would be more dangerous is because it has come in the wake of different ‘religious’ or social groups demanding bans on certain films they feel hurt their sentiments.

So, in case a film is certified by the CBFC for release but some group believes it should be banned or refused certification, the central government would get the power to re-examine the film to determine if it should release. Hence, it would make the CBFC or Censor Board appear irrelevant because the government would have power to revoke their decision.

Proposing such an act brings to our mind the menace created by the Rajput Karni Sena during the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat (2018). The group had demanded the forming of a ‘pre-censor board,’ that would examine a film before it reaches the censor board [or CBFC]. As per their demand, if the ‘pre-censor board’ believes the film has no right to release, it won’t even be sent for certification to the censor board.

This new proposed bill is similar to this, except that the ‘pre-censor board’ is asked to look at a film before it goes to the Censor Board.

The new amendment bill has actually come as a double blow that has hardly been noticed by the general population. Earlier this year, the government dissolved the FCAT [Film Certification Appellate Tribunal].

To put it simply, FCAT was the committee to which a filmmaker went if he is not happy with the decision of the CBFC or the Censor Board. But now, the very option of FCAT for aggrieved filmmaker has been chopped off.

Of course, there is an option for filmmakers to approach the High Court if they are unhappy with the CBFC’s certification. But how can one expect independent filmmakers to file a case and pay for the lawyer when they have somehow managed to generate funds to make the film in the first place?

By dissolving the FCAT, the government took away the right of a filmmaker to get his film re-examined if he is unhappy with the verdict of the Censor Board. And now they are proposing an act through which the government itself has the right to withdraw certification of a film already certified for release.

What can we do?

The government has called for comments and opinions on the matter. One can share his or her views by writing an e-mail on – dhanpreet.kaur@ips.gov.in

Read the whole act HERE.

When Ashok Saraf & Jatin Kanakia had us in splits

May 30, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Writer-director Sanjay Chhel’s Khoobsurat (1999) is a light-hearted saga that keeps you entertained. It was about a conman Sanju (Sanjay Dutt), who owes Rs 50 lakh to gangster Jogia Seth (Paresh Rawal), entering the Chaudhary household by faking to be their NRI (non-resident Indian) relative Sanjay Shastri in order to swindle money.

Sanju succeeds in gaining the confidence of the family members, including Shivani (Urmila Matondkar), the daughter of the head of the family Dilip (Om Puri). He solves a lot of their problems, thereby winning the family’s hearts.

Like all mainstream Hindi movies, Khoobsurat also ends on a happy note with Sanju getting rid of Jogia and the family members forgiving him. He also finds love in Shivani.

You might have a different opinion on the film. But I am sure a lot of you would agree that the presence of Jatin Kanakia and Ashok Saraf together was a treat. It’s the only movie where they acted together, playing Dilip’s younger brothers.

Kanakia and Saraf — Ashok Saraf and Jatin Kanakia

Known the most for his character Keshav Kulkarni in the serial Shrimaan Shrimati, Kanakia has made appearances in Saraf’s TV shows Hum Paanch and Don’t Worry Ho Jayega. But it’s difficult to remember any memorable scene between them from these shows. The scenes where they would have acted together aren’t available on YouTube or any other platform.

Plus, their characters weren’t related to each other in both the shows like they are in Khoobsurat. Hence, they had a number of scenes together in which their respective comic timing was more than noticeable.

The one scene that takes the cake is when Dinesh Hingu’s character visits the family. He expresses his displeasure at Saraf and Kanakia for delaying in coming up with the idea of an advertisement for his underwear product.

As soon as Dutt, Saraf and Kanakia start making out an idea out of thin air, what follows is one epic moment that can be savored repeatedly. Saraf and Kanakia’s co-ordination is visible throughout. The humor is born out of Kanakia’s habit of forgetting certain words [an idea later used on Suniel Shetty’s character in Awara Paagal Deewana, 2002] and Saraf helping him remember while displaying his brand of comic timing.

Hingu’s crazy character and its habits also adds to the humour in a large way, especially his performance on ‘Thumba Thumba.’ It is only recently that I realized that almost the entire scene is taken in a single take.

Also read: SRK & Ashok SARAF’s pair in Yes Boss deserves more appreciation

The scene is on the lines of Neeraj Vohra’s memorable Chako scene in Ram Gopal Varma’s Daud (1997), which, interestingly, was also written by Chhel and it also featured Dutt [that film also saw Matondkar play Dutt’s love interest].

Khoobsurat is also known for bringing a long list of ensemble supporting cast together. Apart from Saraf and Kanakia, it included the likes of Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Aanjjan Srivastav, Johnny Lever, Farida Jalal, Himani Shivpuri and Supriya Pilgaonkar.

Sadly, Kanakia passed away months before the release of Khoobsurat.

Watch the scene below:

Also read: Rann keeps getting more relevant and that’s not a good sign

Rann keeps getting more relevant and that’s not a good sign

April 13, 2021 by Keyur Seta 3 Comments

Rann (2010) was one of the better films created by Ram Gopal Varma. It came at a time when the filmmaker was being written off, especially after the debacle of Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007), the remake of Ramesh Sippy’s classic Sholay (1975).

Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Paresh Rawal, Sudeep, Mohnish Bahl, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi and Gul Panaag, Rann gave more than a glimpse of the RGV of his prime.

Unfortunately, the film just didn’t work at the box office and couldn’t reach a large number of the audience.

But since the last few years, Rann has been appearing more relevant than it did more than a decade ago when it had released. In fact, it continues to get more relevant with each passing year and that isn’t a good sign.

Rann was basically about Vijay Harshwardhan Malik (Bachchan), the righteous and honest owner of a news channel called India 24/7. His channel is struggling with TV ratings since he is not willing to carry out any unethical and dishonest means to up the ratings, like other rival channels, including the one headed by the corrupt Amrish Kakkar (Bahl).

Vijay’s son Jai (Sudeep) has the opposite ideology but is unable to do anything since it is his father who controls the channel, much to his frustration. Meanwhile, Purab Shastri (Deshmukh), a die-hard fan of Vijay and a budding journalist, is delighted to have got the opportunity to work for India 24/7.

Apart from being a film on the media, Rann was also a political drama. Mohan Pandey (Rawal) from the opposition is desperate to become the Prime Minister. He forms a deal with Jai to frame the existing PM Digvijay Hooda (KK Raina) in a terror plot. Jai convinces Vijay about Hooda’s involvement in the scandal and the latter airs the ‘news’ on his channel.

This results in an uproar in the nation and Hooda is forced to step down as the PM. The general elections are held mid-term in which Pandey triumphs and is all set to become the next PM. However, Purab gets to know about Jai’s evil plan to frame the innocent Hooda. But is it too late?

Although the term ‘fake news’ isn’t spelt out in Rann, that is the crux of the film’s basic plot. However, fake news as a concept was hardly there in 2010, so, obviously, it wasn’t known by the masses. Hence, the seriousness of the subject wasn’t felt by the audience back then.

But today, we are living in an era where fake news is not just a reality but a regularity. Political parties use it on a daily basis to score brownie points over their rivals. Their leaders are painted as saints while the opposing party leaders are made to look like evil through posts and memes that appear like real news.

Rann had a long and powerful tagline that can be seen above

And our gullible citizens believe them without bothering to do any kind of verification. The controversy of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput received more fuel because of fake news. It went to such an extent that ‘news’ like how some top Hindi film stars saw the live telecast of Rajput’s ‘murder’ were spread and they were believed even by well-educated individuals.

Rann also went way ahead of its time and showed a news channel airing fake news. This might have appeared difficult to believe 10 years back but today this is also a reality. There have been instances where channels have aired ‘news’ that can be sourced only to What’s App forwards.

Rann ends in a powerful way when Vijay addresses the nation and begs forgiveness for airing fake news about Hooda. The dialogues and Bachchan’s performance provides goose bumps as we are told the responsibility of the media from scratch.

Big B’s climax monologue in Rann

A line spoken by Vijay’s character sums up the relevance of the film today – Jab sarkar aur media satta ki duad mein aapsi sauda kar leti hain, toh khabarein banti nahin, banai jaati hain [When the government and the media make a deal in the race to power, news doesn’t happen; it is created]

Superstar’s Silence: Why Halla Bol is more relevant today

March 11, 2021 by Keyur Seta 1 Comment

To say that a film was ahead of its times has become a cliché. But there is no better way to describe Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ajay Devgn-starrer Halla Bol (2008). The film would have surely made more heads turn had it released in the current era.

Halla Bol traces the journey of Ashfaque Khan (Devgn). Hailing from a small town in India, he was named after the revolutionary Ashfaqulla Khan. Ashfaque dreams of becoming a film star. He joins a theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu (Pankaj Kapur) as a first step towards fulfilling his dream.

Sidhu specializes in using the medium of theatre to expose social evils and raise issues that are plaguing the society. Ashfaque wholeheartedly takes part in all such plays that aim to make a difference in the society, staying true to his name.

Meanwhile, Ashfaque’s efforts to get a break in movies pay off and he soon acquires the status of a star. He changes his name from Ashfaque Khan to Sameer Khan. But along with his name, he also changes as a person. Unlike Ashfaque, Sameer plainly refuses to take part in a play organized by Sidhu once for a social cause because this could hamper his star status, much to the shock and disappointment of the latter.

Not just that, the simple and innocent Ashfaque now becomes a womanizer and cheats his childhood love and wife (Vidya Balan) on numerous occasions.

Sameer’s biggest turning point arrives when he witnesses a murder at a party. He doesn’t testify against the culprits out of fear. But when his conscience doesn’t allow him to be at peace, he decides to carry out his duty as a responsible citizen by naming the killers to the police.

However, he receives serious threats since the perpetrators belong to the camp of the powerful and corrupt politician Ganpatrao Gaekwad (Darshan Jariwala). Raising voice against him would mean an end not only for his career but also his life.

Hence, the man known for raising his voice when he was a nobody becomes silent to all wrongdoings after becoming a superstar.

I was quite impressed with Hall Bol when it had released more than a decade ago. But when I look at it today, it excites me even more. It seems the film was tailor-made for the era we are currently living in.

The idea of a superstar not willing to raise his voice against an offence provided an interesting conflict back then. But today, it seems like straight out of reality. A lot has changed since last 6-7 years. Big stars are now super scared to share their opinion on any serious issue, leave alone raising their voice against a wrongdoing, like they used to before.

In fact, some stars are not even willing to speak up on the enormous rising prices of petrol. Interestingly, the same people were happy to share jokes on the same issue when the previous government was in power and when the price of fuel was much lower than what it is today.

Funnily, one star even deleted his tweets from 2012 when he had shared jokes on rising petrol prices. So that people stop questioning him as to why he is silent now.

Hall Bola shows Sameer go through a change of heart later on. He fights the evil forces all by himself [with timely help from Sidhu] to bring justice to the deceased. Of course, it would be laughable to even think of expecting this in reality. Halla Bol, after all, was a mainstream Hindi movie, so it had to end this way.

The extent of the fear of the authorities in today’s times was seen the most last month when famous celebrities shared scripted tweets in favour of the government after Rihanna spoke up on the issue of farmers’ protest.

Funnily, among the famous names who tweeted included the main lead of Halla Bol.

P.S: Halla Bol is available on Amazon Prime Video, Shemaroo Me and Voot.

Also read:

SRK & Ashok SARAF’s pair in Yes Boss deserves more appreciation

JusticeForSSR now has NO place on news channels. Who gained, who lost?

SRK & Ashok SARAF’s pair in Yes Boss deserves more appreciation

February 13, 2021 by Keyur Seta 5 Comments

There have been some comic, non-romantic male pairs in Hindi cinema since the 1990s. Govinda-Kader Khan, Kader Khan-Shakti Kapoor, Akshay Kumar-Paresh Rawal, etc, are the ones that come to our mind instantly. But a pair that I consider as impressive as these ones is that of Shah Rukh Khan and Ashok Saraf in Aziz Mirza’s Yes Boss (1997).

It’s an unusual pair for sure. Both the actors have different personalities, mannerisms, acting skills and temperaments. Plus, one was an emerging Bollywood star while the other had already acquired the status of a legend in Marathi cinema.

Sometimes, the more unusual the pair, the more are its chances of standing out, especially while doing comedy, and that is exactly what happened with SRK and Saraf in this movie.

Yes Boss saw Khan play Rahul, an ambitious youngster eager to be rich and own a dream office. To achieve his mission, he doesn’t mind bootlicking his boss Siddharth (Aditya Pancholi), which also involves hiding his extra-marital affairs. Siddharth falls for the beautiful Seema (Juhi Chawla), who starts modelling for his firm. He takes Rahul’s help to woo her as usual. However, Rahul also falls for her.

SRK-Ashok Saraf in Yes Boss — Ashok Saraf and Shah Rukh Khan

Saraf played Rahul’s colleague and close friend Johnny. The two share a close bond in the film and are seen hanging out and confiding in each other regularly.

Khan and Saraf were cast together in Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun (1995) but their characters weren’t related to each other. They hardly interacted.

Yes Boss was the first time that the two actors played a pair of characters involved with each other. However, it didn’t look like that. Their chemistry and tuning appeared so natural that it seemed as if they have been playing each other’s co-stars since a long time.

As soon as they appear together on-screen, you are either laughing or smiling, all thanks to their chemistry, acting skills and antics. The scene where Rahul tries to shoo off Johnny so that he can share a private chat with Seema is one such amusing scene.

But what takes the cake is the moment when Khan and Saraf are seen bathing together in the same tub while singing ‘Muqabla Muqabla, O Laila.’ This is followed by their embarrassing moment in the corridor of the hotel because they are only wearing a towel as a cloth.

See the tub scene in this video

Now, who would have thought of such a tub scene with Khan and Saraf? (See in the video above). In today’s times, this would instantly make us question if they are homosexuals. But when I saw the film for the first time in my childhood, obviously I didn’t even think of such a thing. I am sure same is the case with others as well then.

The outcome of SRK and Saraf’s pair appears appealing even today. That’s why these days the more I think of the film, the more I wonder why nothing is spoken or written about this hilarious pairing in the numerous movie related articles and discussions on the internet and social media.

It’s still not too late.

Needless to say, I feel the SRK-Saraf pair should have been explored more in the last 20 years or so.

Maybe, it’s still not too late for this as well…

Also read:

Fact check: Was Deepika Padukone paid Rs 5 crore to attend JNU protests?

JusticeForSSR now has NO place on news channels. Who gained, who lost?

#JusticeForSSR now has NO place on news channels. Who gained, who lost?

November 20, 2020 by Keyur Seta 6 Comments

Roughly few months ago, some Indian news channels had promised to give justice to the deceased Sushant Singh Rajput (SSR). As per the official version, the actor died of suicide on 14 June at his residence in Mumbai.

But these channels, like plenty of What’s App forwards, started spreading the theory that he was murdered and if there’s anyone who can give justice to Rajput, it is them. Hence, there was non-stop coverage on his death with channels ready to interview just about anyone who can speak on SSR – from Karni Sena members to anybody claiming to be the late actor’s friend.

One channel claimed to have all the proofs to support their claim of murder even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who was handed over the case, still hasn’t come up with any such murder theory.

This resulted in crores of viewers getting carried away by the hyper coverage. They kept sharing posts related to SSR almost every minute while appealing to the authorities to punish SSR’s supposed murderers in the strictest way.

All this while, the fake news circulation on What’s App and social media reached another low. Among the many fake messages, the one that takes the cake was that SSR’s ‘murder’ was seen live by some Hindi film stars in their homes. I recently met one highly educated person who considers this ‘news’ about SSR to be absolutely true. And there are many more like him.

The sub-plot of the murder theory was the drugs angle in which SSR’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and few others were arrested. These arrests were celebrated as if India got another freedom.

However, over the last few weeks, the campaign for SSR’s death has just died down. The timing for this is most interesting. It strangely coincided with the Bihar elections, which were recently over. As the people of the state finished casting their vote, SSR’s case faded away from the TV screens.

It was also during the campaign for the Bihar elections that BJP came out with a pamphlet with SSR’s face on it. [See below and read more about it HERE]. A clear indication that his death was just a political tool for them.

In this entire circus, it was the common public that was taken for a ride. Crores of people invested their time, energy and data while getting agitated online, considering themselves to be some sort of warriors. Only for it to boil down to nothing.

You indirectly helped these TV channels earn money, ratings and market their brand value. Today, the same channels have dropped the #JusticeForSSR issue like a hot potato. Just before publishing the report, a cursory check to these news channels showed that SSR’s death found no place on any of them.

Some news channels and political parties aren’t the only ones to gain from it. A YouTuber reportedly earned Rs 15 lakh from making fake videos related to SSR’s death. And his isn’t the only YouTube channel to gain from it. Again, it was the common public who made him earn a bomb.

Also, we didn’t realize when #JusticeForSSR slowly transformed into justice for a ‘news’ anchor, who was recently arrested. As soon as he was released on bail, his jubilant celebrations made it look like the last scene of a movie while the end credits are rolling – a contemporary way to say ‘The End!’

Also read: ‘Anti-nepotism’ brigade has created a TOXIC atmosphere online

SSR’s death definitely won’t be the last issue out of which a tamasha was created. There will be many more in the future.

The question to be asked is whether we will take this as a lesson learnt or get carried away again in the future. Going by how heavily people got influenced this time, I personally don’t have much hopes.

Sorry babu…

Additional reading:

Expecting MIRACLES from CBI in Sushant case isn’t smart

5 questions on the ongoing DRUGS probe in Sushant’s case

September 26, 2020 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The Sushant Singh Rajput death case was handed over to the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) after continuous demand for the same was raised by his family and a large section of the population.

But soon after that, the chaos in media and on social media have left many of us confused as to where is the whole thing headed. It makes me wonder whether all that is happening is actually related to Sushant’s death.

These 5 questions are lurking on my mind these days:

How SSR’s death probe got transformed into Bollywood drugs scandal?

It all started with the aim of giving justice to the late Sushant by handing over his death case to the CBI. So far so good. But as soon as the NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) got involved, the focus completely changed from #JusticeToSSR or #SSRMurder to exposing the drug racket in Bollywood.

Those noisy news channels that were shouting murder just a fortnight ago are now only aiming at exposing the drug nexus in the film industry. In a latest update, Sushant’s family itself is unhappy with how the focus has changed ever since the drug angle cropped up.

Why only female actors being named?

It is strange to see only female actors’ names cropping up in the drug investigation. Are drugs taken only by leading ladies of the industry? What do the male stars use? Glucon D? None of the noisy news anchors are finding anything fishy in this.

What is the final aim?

With the speed at which one actress after another is being called up for allegedly consuming drugs, it leaves us wondering as to what is the final aim of all this. If they continue reading private chats of actors, more names are expected to crop up, which will be a never-ending process. So where is it supposed to end?

How do these screenshots reach news channels?

A former director of the NCB said on a news channel that the anti-narcotics agency is expected to try and catch the main peddler from the names of film stars that come up in the investigation. But what they are actually doing is leaking chat screenshots to the news channels, so that they can carry out tamasha every night.

People don’t seem to be questioning how every screenshot, which is an evidence, is being handed over to the news channels. We can understand if they get leaked once or twice, but daily?

Also read: ‘Anti-nepotism’ brigade has created a TOXIC atmosphere online

Who exactly is on drugs?

In the last few days, we have regularly seen visuals of reporters banging the shut windows of various actresses’ cars and repeatedly asking if they consume drugs. They clearly know that their voice would be hardly audible and they won’t be able to hear anything in case they get an answer.

What took the cake though was one reporter screaming and forcing her driver to overtake Deepika Padukone’s car, whose windows are shut, and asking the actress in the highest pitch possible, “Kya drugs leti hain aap?”

Well, who appears to be on drugs here?

Additional reading:

SSR case: Why is KARNI Sena forgiven & shown respect?

SSR case: Why is KARNI Sena forgiven & shown respect?

August 29, 2020 by Keyur Seta 1 Comment

The coverage of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has been taking place in the media 24/7 over the last many days. In this period, numerous people who claimed to have been close to the late actor are interviewed, in some cases without any verification.

Among hundreds of such interviews, one which has grabbed a lot of eye-balls is that of Surjeet Singh Rathore. He spoke about his experience on Republic channel of him being one of the few ones to have gained access to Sushant’s dead body soon after his death.

He was the one who claimed that the actor’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty said, “Sorry babu,” as soon as she saw his dead body. The founder of the channel and anchor Arnab Goswami believed him at face value.

During the show, the anchor and Rathore came out with the theory that since Rhea said, “Sorry” to Sushant, it meant that she definitely did something wrong to him.

Now whether or not they are right in their interpretation is not something that I wish to discuss here. An important aspect about the interview is the two identities that Surjeet Singh Rathore possesses. One, he is a film producer.

More importantly, he is also the Vice President of the fringe group Rathriya Rajput Karni Sena.

It was one of the few Karni Sena groups that had been up in arms against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat in late 2017 and early 2018, alleging that the film distorts the history of Rajputs and thereby hurts their sentiments.

So the big question that emerges here is why a member of such a group was given access to Sushant’s dead body. Mind you, only a selected few were given entry there. The anchor Arnab Goswami, who is always eager to ask tough questions, didn’t ask this to Rathore.

But Rathore himself revealed on the show that he is a member of [one of the] Karni Senas and he was allowed because a member of the ‘Rajput community’ was dead.

This makes it more interesting. As we all would remember, Goswami had slammed Karni Sena members numerous times on his channel back then because of their stand against Padmaavat which lead to violence in various places in the country.

And here he not only believed everything that this Karni Sena member said at face value, but also thanked him profusely more than once for being on his show.

Interestingly, what wasn’t pointed out on the show was that Sushant had subtly made his stand against Karni Sena clear during the Padmaavat controversy by dropping the words ‘Singh Rajput’ from his name on social media. During that time, the same Karni Sena members and followers had trolled Sushant for his act. (Read about it HERE and HERE)

Also read: Expecting MIRACLES from CBI in Sushant case isn’t smart

After doing this, Sushant had also tweeted saying, “We would suffer till the time we’re obsessed with our surnames. If you’re that courageous, give us your first name to acknowledge. #Padmavati.” This clearly indicates that he was against the division of humans into different communities, castes, samaajs and what not.

If you feel this is hypocritical, here’s more. Rathore is the co-producer of a film inspired from Rajput’s death titled ‘Shashank.’ The poster of the film, which you can see below, has words like ‘Nepotism,’ ‘Depression,’ ‘Suicide,’ ‘Murder,’ etc, scattered over the image of a man who is about to hang himself to death.

Let that sink in…

Also read: ‘Anti-nepotism’ brigade has created a TOXIC atmosphere online

Expecting MIRACLES from CBI in Sushant case isn’t smart

August 23, 2020 by Keyur Seta 2 Comments

Few days back I saw a video of the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) team arriving in Mumbai after they were handed over the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case once the Supreme Court (SC) gave its nod. They were hounded by tens of journalists screaming out the same question repeatedly – “Will Rhea Chakraborty be arrested in the Sushant case?”

The CBI team had just taken over the case at that time. So, how can these journalists expect them to take a decision as major as arresting Rhea just less than a day after they started working on it? This isn’t a case of a driver jumping a signal in which an instant challan is issued.

When the media behaves this way, you can well imagine the state of the mind of the keyboard warriors; the ‘die hard’ fans of Sushant who feel they are fighting for the truth by typing out orders on social media for the CBI to arrest Rhea Chakraborty or anyone else in the case.

I have seen countless posts where people have just assumed that the CBI will perform instant miracles now that they have taken over the case. I can understand primary school kids having such expectations. But these are educated grown-ups working at senior levels who are impatiently expecting results in the case.

Sushant Singh Rajput and Rhea Chakraborty

All such expectations aren’t surprising though when a large contingent of social media users can start believing that disliking trailers of films starring ‘insiders’ can give justice to Sushant [about which I have written HERE]. These people were literally dancing in joy when the CBI was given the nod to take over the case.

And they were given massive encouragement to go wild by a ‘news anchor’ who considers himself to be the only judge in the nation who matters. He and his panel on the debate literally clapped with wide smiles when the SC allowed the CBI to be involved in the case. Have we forgotten that the very foundation of the case is a tragic death of a talented artiste?

It is also funny to see this anchor put pressure to get the CBI involved and then applaud the same when he has already solved the case on his channel and concluded the suicide to be a murder, much before the CBI got involved. In fact, he refers to the case as ‘Sushant Singh Rajput murder’ after a series of sting operations his team carried out.

Also read: ‘Anti-nepotism’ brigade has created a TOXIC atmosphere online

Right now nobody would like to be in the shoes of the CBI team which is assigned the case. I hope the super excited media and the social media let them work in peace without pressure. I don’t have much hope though going by the crazy expectations from them.

In case, the results of the CBI investigation don’t bring the same results that the media and social media are expecting, it won’t be long before the CBI too is targeted from the studios and the keyboards.

What will they demand then? A CBI inquiry on the CBI itself?

(Additional reading)

An open letter to Arvind Kejriwal

Fact check: Was Deepika Padukone was paid Rs 5 crore to attend JNU protests

‘Anti-nepotism’ brigade has created a TOXIC atmosphere online

August 18, 2020 by Keyur Seta 6 Comments

The debate around nepotism in Hindi film industry has been going on since last few years, ever since Kangana Ranaut accused Karan Johar on his show for favoring star kids.

The incident triggered never-ending debates on social media on whether star kids are plain lucky to get an easy entry into the film world and more chances than someone who isn’t from a film background.

Despite the controversial nature of the subject, the star kids debate was still under control. But Sushant Singh Rajput’s sad demise a couple of months ago has made things go completely out of control. In fact, that’s a mild way of putting it.

Sushant didn’t come from a film family. In today’s times, he is known as an ‘outsider,’ who made it big in the Hindi film world, where there’s cut-throat competition. Slowly after his death, theories started cropping up that he was depressed because a number of big producers from the industry had boycotted him. Strangely, there is no such proof of this except those What’s App forwards and unverified ‘news’ reports.

This thought has become so deep-rooted in the minds of a large number of people that they have started hating any artiste who comes from a film family. Negative comments are being posted against them almost every second, just because someone from their family had made it big in the industry.

This didn’t start immediately after Sushant passed away. It has gradually increased since last one month and has now reached an unimaginable level. These trollers are making it look as if it is a crime to be born in a film family.

So now films are categorized as those starring ‘nepo kids’ and those with a cast which doesn’t come from a film family. Leave alone general public, I can see such divisions even made by few journalists, who are expected to be neutral and unbiased.

And if you don’t like a film starring an ‘outsider,’ you get judged for being a supporter of the ‘nepo gang’ and an enemy of self-made actors. For example, recently a reviewer didn’t like Khuda Haafiz and the person was judged for the same, not just by Twitterati but also the film’s lead actor Vidyut Jammwal.

It looks like it has also become a crime to judge a film objectively instead of being heavily biased by taking into account whether it has any star kids.

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The dangerous levels to which this anti-nepotism feeling has reached became clearer last week when the trailer of Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak 2 released. This anti-nepotism gang pounced on that trailer like a hungry wild animal pounces on its prey. In just few days, the trailer has got over 60,000 likes and 1 crore 10 lakh [or 11 million] dislikes!

Sadak 2 trailer with 11 million dislikes

But there’s more. Sadak 2 has a Google rating of just 1.1 after as many as close to 20,000 votes.

You don’t even need to be a regular internet user to know this is a powerful campaign against the film because it has the likes of Alia Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt and Sanjay Dutt, who are now addressed as ‘nepo kids.’

Average rating of 1.1 for Sadak 2 on Google

Although the trailer hasn’t been lauded by large section of the audience, having so many dislikes and low rating is not normal by any means. Race 3 (2018) and Joker (2012), two of the most hated trailers in recent years, didn’t receive an iota of such negative ratings.

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This is clearly a planned strategy which has spread like wildfire. I hate to say this but this is exactly how political trolls and their IT cells operate. They target a film and start spreading negativity through dislikes, down votes and toxic personal attacks on people related to the film.

Believe me, your ‘dislikes’ isn’t going to give justice to Sushant Singh Rajput but I guess common sense is not very common, especially when the minds are brainwashed so deeply. Also their rude comments and intolerance for a different opinion instantly remind me of these political trolls.

Then there are people like KRK who are making full use of the controversy to gain popularity by trending topics like #JusticeForSSR and #CBIInquiryForSSR. He is the same person who used to personally attack Sushant in his ‘movie reviews.’ On more than one occasion, he also went onto say that Sushant is just a TV actor, he shouldn’t consider himself a film actor.

Just like these political trolls this anti-nepo gang too believes in the false notion that they are warriors fighting against injustice. But instead they are making things go chaotic and toxic online.

And the world is watching us.

(Additional reading)

An open letter to Arvind Kejriwal

Why people in their 30s should stop believing they are 70