Nepotism Is the New Pink
Encountering Bollywood for the first time is like entering a whole new world. Whether a movie stars Amitabh Bachchan or Shahid Kapoor is all the same to you, because you’ve never heard of either of them before. You have a hard time deciding if you should watch Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Neal ‘N’ Nikki, because you don’t know anything about either film (actually, I’d never watch Neal ‘N’ Nikki, the title itself is enough to put me off). But after you’ve seen a few movies and start to recognise the major actors, you want to find out a bit more about them and their careers. And so we come to the point of this post: is everyone in Bollywood related to each other? Except for those people who actually share the same name, that is (i.e. all the Khans).
I really was quite surprised to discover that virtually every actor of the younger generation has parents or other relatives in the film industry.
The first and most obvious one you come across is Abhishek Bachchan, son of Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, both actors. Ajay Devgan’s father is a director. Salman Khan’s father is a screen writer (and his stepmother is Helen). Aamir Khan’s father is a producer and his uncle a director. Hrithik Roshan’s parents are both actors, his father also directs and produces movies.
Saif and Soha Ali Khan’s mother is an actress (and their father the nawab of Pataudi, but that’s beside the point). Akshaye Khanna’s father is an actor. Tabu’s aunt is an actress and her uncle is the lyricist Javed Akhtar. Vivek Oberoi’s father is an actor. Zayed Khan’s father is an actor. Esha Deol’s parents are actors. The list just goes on and on.
And then there are the Kapoors, the Mukherjee-Samarths, the Bhatts, Dutts and Puris - whole filmi dynasties! The list of Bollywood film clans on Wikipedia is impressively long.
There are some exceptions to the rule. Actors like Preity Zinta, Aishwarya Rai, Juhi Chawla, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal and John Abraham all started out as models. Ritesh Deshmukh actually studied acting. Vidya Balan started out in TV ads and soap operas. And of course there’s Shahrukh Khan, who started out as a TV actor.
But the great majority of actors, and even directors/producers like Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra, are from established film families. So, just why is Bollywood so dominated by these people? Is it so difficult to succeed there that only the well-connected can do it? Are parents so keen for their children to follow in their footsteps and have the same career as them? Or is it just a coincidence?
August 29th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Its an interesting thing you spoke about, Maja. Some way our filmi fan heart beat and beats even more by hearing such great names, dynasties like the kapoors (sounds someway like the windsors, doesn’t it?) funny, some seconds ago i’d written about kank and starism in bollywood who doesn’t only make success - kank has shown. but on the other hand without protege or a good family in background there is no chance. someway, if you hear karan johar talk about shahrukh or abhishek its a big family without the bloodlines. why? is it indian culture, more familiar with family bounds like ours?
i don’t know. but as in most business, west or east, its just the same: you could be made a door some steps open if you know the right people. but to let this door been open is more difficult and you’ve to work for hard.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:10 pm
That is a very interesting point Maja. That list of the Bollywood film clans is almost shocking.
In India (or anywhere else for that matter), the idea of being a celebrity and a film star so much glorified that a part of everyone wants to belong to that category of people. In cases of the Bollywood actors, their kids want to be actors regardless of whether their parents want them to follow their footsteps. And for all the connections that the actors have, their kids are definitely most likely to be given a chance than the rest of the population. Am I making any sense here? I kinda confused myself with what I’m saying. Ok, well that’s what I think (whatever it is). Cheers
September 1st, 2006 at 3:21 pm
I think maybe it has something to do with Indian culture, at least in the limited amount I’ve seen. There families are extremely tight units, and it’s the norm for children to follow in their parent’s footsteps, from film stars to rickshaw wallas. I’m no expert in the matter, though. This is my first time here and I’m so glad I found this sight!
September 2nd, 2006 at 12:42 am
Nepotism isn’t a bad thing - I mean, if you’re groomed to be an actor when you grow up, you’re going to be ready for the roles that come your way. For example, if Hrithik wasn’t from a Bollywood family, he might not have taken dance lessons, and so he wouldn’t move so smoothly on the screen.
I actually only posted this comment to make you happy, Maja!
September 2nd, 2006 at 12:43 am
Hey, how come we all have to be Akshaye Khanna?
September 2nd, 2006 at 1:06 am
Yay! *is happy*
Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that it was a bad thing - it has given us all those FPMBFs, after all
And I’m not Akshaye any more, I just spent about 20min deciding which icon to use!
September 2nd, 2006 at 6:39 am
this is not fair. why can’t we choose anyone else than Akshaye. i don’t like that guy (sorry Beth).
September 2nd, 2006 at 8:52 am
You see, the thing is that it is not much of a concern to the parents of these performers to keep spending money on them repeatedly even if they fail the first, the second the third or more times because they can afford to do so. This advantage others don’t have. Also, they are well connected within the film industry-if you can call it an industry-we can call it unorganised industry.b A fairly intelliegent person will start showing results after so many failures. Therefore, we have so many sons and daughters from within the industry in various departments.
September 2nd, 2006 at 6:22 pm
DJ: i’d like to. Unfortunatly choosing here is only possible for editors. but this gravatar-thing should work if you’ve a gravatar with the same email you use here at gravatar.com registered. i’d not tryed it, but it should work. i only can make some randomly chosen free avatars for those without own. and please only 80 x80 pixel, no more
March 31st, 2007 at 11:24 am
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June 5th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
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June 15th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
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June 23rd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
hi every 1???
December 28th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
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December 28th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
HEPSİ CEHENNEME GİDECEK. YORUM YAZANLARDA.HEPİNİZ PİÇSİNİZ.
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Thanks for sharing