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ISSN 2455-4782

NEPOTISM IN FILM INDUSTRY: AN UNENDING DEBATE

Authored by: Dr. Deepti Kohli *

* Associate Professor, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies,

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ABSTRACT

Nepotism is not a new issue in the society. It revives itself with the growth of film industry. It can be seen in politics as well. In the film industry it can be seen at the level of production, distribution, marketing etc. The disadvantage of it is that, it eliminates the talent and hard work from the work culture. It removes incentives for creativity. It has been seen as a boon for the star kids and bane for the struggling artists. Recently the death of the 34 year old actor has ignited the debate of nepotism through the social media activists. The paper attempts to study as to how far film industry has been the victim of nepotism and the loss suffered due to it. The paper also analyses the possible legal solutions to the problem of nepotism.

Key words- Nepotism, film industry, star kids, film collection, production house, directors

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INTRODUCTION

When professional decisions are hampered on the basis of personal relationships, nepotism can be said to have begun. The strong argument in its support is that when families run businesses, as a tradition, they want to carry it from generations to generations, and keep the profit in home which can be inherited by the family members alone. The term nepotism has been derived from Italian word nepotismo, which is based on Latin root nepos, which means nephew.1 There are various areas where nepotism exists, however, in this paper the nepotism is discussed in the light of film industry, commonly known as ‘’. It’s been an old practice of over powering and influencing unethically an actor, to get the near and dear ones a job. A large section of our society is ignorant about the practice of nepotism, but at the same time is severely affected by it also.2

Nepotism can be seen from two points of views. Firstly, the intention is to receive reciprocal rewards as an expectation from another person. Reciprocity is based on image scoring (reputation) where individuals invest only in partners who have sufficiently helped them in past.3 Secondly, it is seen as popularizing one’s own family or community, for e.g. from Prithviraj to , the business ran from first generation to fourth generation. Favoring relatives in benefit sharing follows the psychology of nepotism.4 In an interview Ranbir Kapoor himself confessed that he has been fortunate enough to get an opportunity because of his family ties.5 “I would like to work hard for my children so that they get the right opportunity, platform, the right first film. After that, it’s about your talent. So, yes, honestly, it does exist.”

1 Adam Bellow, In Praise of Nepotism: A Natural History, https://web.archive.org/web/20100926013727/http://booknotes.org/Transcript/?ProgramID=1742 visited on 20th June 2020 2 Elizabeth T George, Practice of Nepotism in the Indian Film Industry: A content analysis of MOM (2017) and (2018), International Journal of Scientific Research and Review, Vol 7, Issue 5, UGC Journal, May 2019 3 Francesca Grippa, João Leitão, et al, Collaborative Innovation Networks: Building Adaptive and Resilient Organizations, Springer, 2018, P 119 4 ibid 5 https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/when-ranbir-kapoor-confessed-he-was-a-product-of-nepotism-said-i- would-like-to-work-hard-for-my-children-so-that-they-get-the-right-opportunity/story- L3s4WQHjpA58elsiq2gR8K.html#:~:text=Ranbir%20Kapoor%20has%20never%20minced,advantages%20as%20w ell%20as%20disadvantages.&text=He%20is%20a%20fourth%20generation,in%20the%20Indian%20film%20industr y. visited on 22nd June 2020 15 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW [JCIL] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

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RISE OF NEPOTISM

Nepotism was always prevalent in our society. It existed in politics, when we have only seen rise of Gandhian Empire, the Yadavs, the Paswans, the Abdullahs, the Karunanidhi family etc. Since its subject matter is elite groups in the society, it hardly affected the sports. The reason is that the worth of sportsperson is measured by statistics, exception, however, always exists. It is a basic practice among those who have power or influence of relationship or partnership. It results in creating a legacy for the descendants of the same family. It started long back with the kings and bishops who invested their powers and position to the members of their family.

Professed favouritism at the same workplace can cause dissatisfaction. In such a case the favoured ones, lack incentives to perform their responsibilities diligently. As a result there is loss of productivity.6 In a brief study reported in newspaper, it was revealed that during 1960-1980, the nepotism through family connection was 17 percent, which received a sharp increase of 40 percent by the year 2000. And now it’s almost double the number. There is variation in forms of nepotism. It has been seen that earlier the actors coming from major cities were 38 percent by 1980’s and it increased up-to 60 percent till 2016. This clearly shows decline in the accessibility of actors from small cities or towns.7

For years we have seen the glamour of industry facing up and downs, and most of it has been contributed by the star generations who were able to snatch number of opportunities from those who came to Bollywood to make their own fortune.8 We have seen many actors contributing towards the film industry socially and economically with their own hard work and talent.9 At the same time we have seen losses attributed towards the star kids in their debut films.

6 https://www.v13.in/2019/03/08/the-other-side-of-bollywood-nepotism/ visited on 21st June 2020 7 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/filmy-family-business-bollywood-nepotism-4828873/ visited on 21st June 2020 8 https://www.mensxp.com/entertainment/gossip/38343-roots-of-nepotism-in-bollywood-are-strong-enough-to-spoil- the-status-of-indian-films-forever.html visited on 21st June 2020 9 (born as Yusuf Khan) was one of twelve children in a family who lived in what is today called . The family relocated to Bombay when Dilip was eight years old and he made his career out of scratch. made it in films on account of winning an All Talent Contest, organised by , in 1965. 's father was a poet. was a bus conductor in Bangalore. was teaching martial arts in and modelling simultaneously. , well, that's a contemporary legend every one knows. 16 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW [JCIL] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

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Fig 110 As against the loss we have seen many low budget films, far away from nepotism, doing well in their after release and contributing more towards industry.11

Name of the movie Budget (Crores) Collection (Crores) Stree ₹ 20 ₹ 100 Badhaai Ho ₹ 30 ₹ 132.05 ₹ 40 ₹ 158.77 ₹ 25 ₹ 72.37 ₹ 15 ₹ 121.59 Mulk ₹ 18 ₹ 27.05 Medium ₹ 23 ₹ 70 ₹ 5 ₹ 66.32 Kahaani ₹ 8 ₹ 104 No One Killed Jessica ₹ 9 ₹ 104

https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/standpoint/story/karan-johar-kangana-ranaut-bollywood-nepotism-sara-ali-khan- jhanvi-961613-2017-02-20 visited on 21st June 2020 10 Data sourced from movie and trade websites shows otherwise: of the 68 films released since 2000 as launch vehicles for star kids, 46 bombed. The biggest disaster so far has been director ’s fantasy romantic thriller Mirzya (2016) that introduced actor ’s son Harshvardhan. The movie lost nearly ₹ 56 crore. Director Harry Baweja’s science fiction thriller Love Story 2050 (2008) that launched his son Harman Baweja, also lost ₹ 29 crore.https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/9v2z8A0gHasIjA97GtTW9K/Bollywood-How-nepotism-fares-at-the- box-office.html visited on 21st June 2020

11 Available at https://www.fincash.com/l/movies/low-budget-bollywood-films-that-smashed-box-office and Available at https://www.scoopwhoop.com/small-budget-films-with-good-stories/ visited on 21st June 2020 17 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW [JCIL] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

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ROLE OF PRODUCTION HOUSES IN RAISING NEPOTISM

The anecdote of nepotism does not end at being a star kid, it also assumes its importance with big production houses. These production houses also shares the plight of nepotism as evident from the following graph. They sign big budget films with the ‘insiders’, the so called star kids. Sometimes they remove the ‘outsiders’ the non-star kids from a movies so that they can give the chance to the insiders. Recently, actress , in an interview shared that she was the victim of nepotism when she was replaced by a star kid in a movie by a big production house.12

Fig 213 The analysis of the above data shows that the production houses have taken relationship ties and most favoured actors as a lead in the films. It also implies reducing the role of actors who failed miserable to come up under this category.

12 Available at https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/television-news/kriti-sanon-opens-up-about- being-replaced-by-a-starkid-in-films.html visited on 22nd June 2020 13 Available at https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/FZftXzIO9oQt9KMesWN9eI/Which-Bollywood-producer- scores-highest-on-the-Nepotism-Inde.html visited on 21st June 2020 18 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW [JCIL] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

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ROLE OF DIRECTORS

It is equally important to see the role played by directors in making big budget films with top production houses and swaying away the newcomers in the field of production.

Fig 314 The directors of big budget films prefer to work within the relationship or established stars, for the reason that they seldom experiment higher financial risk with the new comes.

THE FLAG BEARER OF NEPOTISM Almost every newspaper, journal, magazine has published the statement made my actress Kangna Ranaut about , in his famous chat show, ‘’. Therefore it is pertinent to interpret the meaning of this term ‘The flag bearer of nepotism’. The film industry provides equal opportunity to all the actors, directors, producers, etc. There have been new age actors like , Ayushman Khurana, Radhika Apte, Bhoomi Pednekar, Taapsi Panuu, Kriti Sanon, etc who have gained popularity because of their talent, and without being a product of nepotism. At the same time some of the insiders are also becoming popular because of their hard work, skills and talent for e.g. , , etc. Thus the accusation of flag bearer lies on those who withhold the growth film industry by adopting such unethical practices. This year, the famous Film Fare Award 2020 was criticized for being partial as one movie, ‘Gully Boys’ won all major award. Many of the active supporters against nepotism posted on social media websites like , Face Book, , WhatsApp, etc. to boycott Film Fare Award and alleged it to be biased. The lyricist Manoj Muntashir, literally announced that he would never attend any award show till he is

14 ibid 19 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW [JCIL] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

ISSN 2455-4782 alive, because the intensity of his work was not honored in the track ‘’ from the movie ‘Kesari’.15 Similarly, with a single film Ananya Pandey could grasp three awards.16 These facts are sufficient to demoralize the new talent in the film industry.

NEPOTISM IN EXECUTION

The question here is how nepotism takes place? Recently, on the story of ‘outsiders’ and insiders’, film director Abhinav Kashyap, threw some light on the role played by the talent management agencies. At first, the talent scout or casting directors works on a cut/ commission to a needy actor, who may not have varied financial resources. Then the actor is lured to bollywood parties on the pretext of introducing them to the celebrities. They are ignored and treated very badly at these parties, so that they feel demoralized and breaks their self-confidence. Once they are made to believe their incapacity, the scouts offer them multi-year exclusive contracts. They are pressurized to sign these contracts, and breaking those bounds the actors with legal consequences. Once the contract comes into existence, the talent agencies make them to give up their right to exercise free choice and their discretion in any manner. They are made bounded labor with very little money in their hand. If, any actor refuses to work upto the expectations of these agencies then these actors are systematically boycotted and their name is removed from all upcoming movies. This way the talented actor is either destroyed in his career or commits suicide.17

LEGAL REMEDIES In legal premises, the casting of a talented actor in such a way is not treated as an offence, for the reason that there is a contract in existence. However, such a contract can be questioned under section 1618 of the Indian Contact Act 1872. All that needs to be proved by the actor was that he was under

15 Available at https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/hindi/2020/feb/17/boycottfilmfareawards-trends-as- gully-boy-wins-most-awards-ananya-panday-gets-best-female-debut-2104654.html visited on 22nd June 2020 16 Zee Cine Award, Film Fare Award, Screen Award 17 Available at https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/hindi/2020/jun/16/bandra-cartel-exists-director- abhinav-kashyap-attacks-salman-khan-family-for-sabotaging-his-career-2157245.html visited on 22nd June 2020 18 Indian Contract Act, 1872- Section 16. ‘Undue influence’ defined.—(1) A contract is said to be induced by ‘undue influence’ where the relations subsisting between the parties are such that one of the parties is in a position to dominate the will of the other and uses that position to obtain an unfair advantage over the other." (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing principle, a person is deemed to be in a position to dominate the will of another— (a) where he holds a real or apparent authority over the other, or where he stands in a fiduciary relation to the other; or 20 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW [JCIL] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

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‘undue influence’ at the time of signing of the contract, and the contractor was in the position to dominate his will. Similarly under section 1719 the victim actor can seek remedy of committal of ‘fraud’ against him. He must prove that the other party, with the intention to deceive him, induced him to enter into the contract. Under criminal law also remedies would be available under section 420 for cheating. But factually it is an emerging branch of white collar crime. It is very difficult to question the decision of film makers for throwing out the ‘outsiders’ from the movies, in order to please the families of ‘insiders’. As such this is not an offence and does not lead to any criminal punishment. Justice rests upon facts, facts for which legal remedies are available. Justice cannot come to one’s door step. The victim is required to approach to the courts of law for seeking justice.

CONCLUSION The debate on nepotism is the product of recent suicide case of actor . The weed of nepotism always existed in the society, but it has been reflected nation-wide only after this case. People have started boycotting the movies of star kids and famous directors and producers. Being a star kid is not a crime per se, its destiny. There is no agency which can remove nepotism from the society. We have to live with it. We must, however, understand the legacy which we are offering to our new generation. The film industry is the bread earner for many workers. Thus each of its employees must comply with its responsibility and create an amicable work culture for all.

(b) where he makes a contract with a person whose mental capacity is temporarily or permanently affected by reason of age, illness, or mental or bodily distress. 19 Id, Section 17- Fraud’ means and includes any of the following acts committed by a party to a contract, or with his connivance, or by his agent1, with intent to deceive another party thereto or his agent, or to induce him to enter into the contract 21 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW [JCIL] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6