Rahul Bhat fumes at Bollywood amid nepotism row, Onir recalls being replaced by filmmaker

The big names of the film industry are currently being called out for nepotism, favoritism and campism in the wake of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. Not just are the netizens fuming at the star kids, and trolling them, even the celebrities are opening up on the injustice meted out to them in the industry. Kangana Ranaut and some of the other stars have been sharing the times when they were ‘bullied’.

READ: Alia Bhatt's Mother Soni Razdan Joins The Nepotism Debate After Alia Faces Backlash

Rahul Bhat and Onir also voiced their views on Twitter. Rahul Bhat wrote that merely 'shouting' about nepotism was not enough. The Ugly film actor shared that a level playing field needed to be created, which was only possible by putting a cap on the costs for Print and Advertising of a film.

Here's the tweet

Onir agreed with Rahul's view and felt that was the only way that ‘indie’ films that cast 'outsiders' could get ‘visibility.’ The filmmaker also pointed out the functioning of the ‘media net’, in other words, how the banners use paid articles for publicity.

The I Am director also shared how the studios tie up with a set of banners and the filmmakers of smaller films have to tie up with ‘bigger players’, and earn ‘minuscule’ as they have to partner with brokers to sell their film. He also shared that since the saleable artists" were tied to the big banners, the entire chain led to ‘disempowering' of talent and continued nurturing of 'talent.'

In another set o ftweets on Tuesday, Rahul wrote that a few ‘monopolised’ the business, by earning crores and spending crores on publicity of ‘bad films’ every week and ‘hoarding theatres’ by cracking deals with the cinema owners for every show. The actor wrote that due to COVID-19, the cinemas were empty and nepotism was trending. He added that it was a ‘bad time’ for them.

READ: Inder Kumar's Wife Pallavi Reveals How Her Husband Was A Victim Of Nepotism In Bollywood

Rahul also wrote that during the release of his film Daasdev there was 'pressure' on him to feature on front pages of newspapers and magines. However, he refused when he was asked to pay lakhs for the coverage, questioning the need to participate in it. He added that an emerging actors finds it hard to climb up the ladder unless they can pay, have a godfather, crack these ‘barter deals’ with media, or get pally with the big names.

Rahul defended the act of launching a name from the film industry, but expressed his displeasure at ‘thrusting’ the product by ‘manipulating the market’, even after films flop.

Onir also shared similar views on launching new talent with films like Shab and Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz, sharing how the media refused to give them coverage unless they paid for it, and called it ‘problematic.’  The filmmaker also said that slamming nepotism was not about discouraging the star kids, but to empower those deserving and talented who he claimed were denied opportunity by 'blatant discrimination.'

Onir gave another example from 2007 of being replaced in a film, after being signed a big banner. He recalled how he went for recce to Melbourne, but upon returning, a ‘more established filmmaker’ had joined the team as he promised ‘bigger strs.’ He remembered that the other filmmaker later told him that Onir could’ve done a better job on the film.

READ: 'Don't Use Sushant's Death As Excuse To Rebel Against Nepotism': Irrfan Khan's Son Babil

READ: Old Priyanka Chopra Video Saying 'Nepotism-Bollywood Go Hand-in-hand' Surfaces Amid Debate