Shorey: the games played by Gatekeepers of Bollywood

"It wouldn’t be fair to blame someone for a step that he took himself. He was playing a high stakes game, where it’s win or lose it all. But something has to be said about the self-appointed ‘gatekeepers of Bollywood’. Something has to be said about the games they play, and their two facedness. Something has to be said about the power they wield with zero accountability. The power they derive from having inherited privilege in the business and the mainstream media sitting in their lap. The power to decide who will be a “star” and who will be left out in the cold. But of course, the coterie that owns the only high stakes table in the casino will never be questioned, because everyone is too busy enjoying the game. Even if they know it’s fixed."

Ranvir Shorey

Ranvir shouldve reached out 

"The power to decide who will be a “star” and who will be left out in the cold"

This. 

The line itself is so powerful and scary but goddamned truth in today's Bollywood. Nobody can make it and stay afloat without Karan and gang's blessings. It's not a coincidence that Sushant, Kartik, Rajkumar, Ayushmann, Vicky have all been buddy-buddy with the insiders as soon as they had some semblance of fame and credibility that could cashed on. One fell out of bounds and had to suffer the consequences from the gang itself. Let's hope the others learn from this and know better. They could be out of the camp tomorrow after a single flop and be given the same treatment as Sushant. They are not like starkids whose place on the inside are guaranteed regardless of their box office or sir-yes-sir spewing potential. 

Hansal Mehta✔@mehtahansal

There are many young 'outsiders' in this industry. Remember this - there is an establishment that will make you feel like the next big thing until they need you. They will drop you and mock you as soon as you falter. Do not fall for the trap. The ones that celebrate you...

Shekhar Kapur✔@shekharkapur

I knew the pain you were going through. I knew the story of the people that let you down so bad that you would weep on my shoulder. I wish Iwas around the last 6 months. I wish you had reached out to me. What happened to you was their Karma. Not yours. #SushantSinghRajput

Anubhav Sinha✔@anubhavsinha

The Bollywood Privilege Club must sit down and think hard tonight.

PS- Now don't ask me to elaborate any further.

.

Earlier I was thinking it's not fair to blame anyone for this but It seems this nepotism thing actually impacted Sushant a lot.

Originally posted by: AllThatCritique

"The power to decide who will be a “star” and who will be left out in the cold"

This. 

The line itself is so powerful and scary but goddamned truth in today's Bollywood. Nobody can make it and stay afloat without Karan and gang's blessings. It's not a coincidence that Sushant, Kartik, Rajkumar, Ayushmann, Vicky have all been buddy-buddy with the insiders as soon as they had some semblance of fame and credibility that could cashed on. One fell out of bounds and had to suffer the consequences from the gang itself. Let's hope the others learn from this and know better. They could be out of the camp tomorrow after a single flop and be given the same treatment as Sushant. They are not like starkids whose place on the inside are guaranteed regardless of their box office or sir-yes-sir spewing potential. 

Very well articulated post by you, ATC! 👏 

P.S. How come outsiders like SRK, Akshay K or Vidya B didn’t face this problem? 🤔 

Did nepotism originate with Aalia’s debut and KJo taking reigns of her career? 🤔

Originally posted by: Swetha-Sai

Very well articulated post by you, ATC! 👏 

P.S. How come outsiders like SRK, Akshay K or Vidya B didn’t face this problem? 🤔 

Did nepotism originate with Aalia’s debut and KJo taking reigns of her career? 🤔

I’m sure they did ...srk was shamed for his looks, Akshay was shamed for his looks Initially (of course he’s like fitness guru now)..Vidya was shamed for her body and looks 

I’m sure at some point they all went “screw u” and did their things .

Anupama Chopras book on srk says he literally said f*ck u to a. Startdist editor who gave him a scathing review ..

But maybe they somehow managed to wait till they got their due. 

SRK and Akshay started in an era when social networking and social media or PR were not prevalent. They could survive bcoz the industry were not ruthless as it is now.

Today with the use of PR, media house connections, inner circle nexus, you can literally make or break a career.

They tried with Vidya, I remember how they treated her after Hey Baby, but she managed to find her own niche and genre and then Siddharth Roy Kapur happened so that helped.

Originally posted by: Swetha-Sai

P.S. How come outsiders like SRK, Akshay K or Vidya B didn’t face this problem? 🤔 

Did nepotism originate with Aalia’s debut and KJo taking reigns of her career? 🤔

They all were harassed too. SRK, Akshay and Vidya all used to get made fun of for their looks. Akshay was called a non-actor. SRK was said to have attitude problems and fake stories would come out about affairs with Deepa Sahi and even Kajol. SRK had even banned the media for a while and was in a feud with several magazines because they kept printing lies. They were begrudgingly accepted when they became successful. 

There was a major campaign against SRK when Hrithik came because they desperately wanted an insider to replace him. Insiders would give quotes about how SRK is finished, they edited awards show content once to pretend like SRK was jealous of Hrithik winning an award. He wasn't even in the audience at that time because he was backstage. People to this day still talk about that edited clip to put him down. But SRK has a different personality than Sushant and he can fight back and knows how to deal with snakes. Akshay doesn't let things get to him. 

They did affect Vidya more but she changed her strategy. She stopped trying to become a mainstream heroine and started doing small female-centric films so they were no longer threatened by her and left her alone. She also married high up.

Sushant was more vulnerable and he never had the ass-kissing skills or knew how to do social climbing like Ayushmann or Rajkumar Rao know how to. 

True 

 Vidyut Jaamwal is more talented and better looking than tiger yet he never got the support that tiger got