As Zoya Akhtar announced her heavily nepotism infested upcoming project titled The Archies, it sparked a nationwide debate. Does Bollywood’s unapologetic favouring of star kids do justice to its craft?
Amidst tons of internet back and forth regarding the topic, Actor Gulshan Devaiah pointed out an interesting detail:
Observation: Hindi film audiences will happily watch dubbed films of a second/third/fourth generation star kid & not have any nepotism ki khujli (at least on social media)
— Gulshan Devaiah (@gulshandevaiah) May 14, 2022
Since I am not a psychic medium nor Devaiah’s BFF, it’s impossible for me to decode what’s exactly on his mind. But the internet interpreted it as the Badhaai Do actor accusing the nepotism debate of solely revolving around Bollywood and not the regional film industries, particularly the South.
Here’s what the Twitterati had to add:
You have a point. But at the same time, unlike Bollywood the "nepo kids" down South (assuming that's what you are talking about) are extremely talented in either performance or entertainment.
— Dsj (@de_extremist) May 14, 2022
Yash(Naveen Gowda) and Rajnikanth(Shivaji Gaekwad) are second/third/fourth generation star kids? I thought the former was a son of bus driver and latter was a bus conductor before becoming an actor.
— CN (@chemc1990) May 14, 2022
If you see all the latest hits from south, actors like
— Rahul (@Containment_Zon) May 14, 2022
Ram charan
Jr NTR
Allu Arjun
Vijay thalapathy
all of them nepo kids in some sense!!
But bollywood nepotism kids doesn’t know the A of acting. That’s the difference .
— gentlevishwa (@gentlevishwa) May 14, 2022
Twood families are pretty confusing. Every1 is related to some1 and it's difficult to keep up.Also they don't make it a huge deal about a star kid launch like they do in bwood. So most of the audience doesn't even know that a particular actor is a starkid. Hope that makes sense.
— That Brown Girl. (@desi_madonna) May 14, 2022
Tamil/Telugu/mallu Bhar Bhar ke Nepo idhar Nepo udhar. Kuch fark nahi padta hai. Sara gyaan only for bolly
— somen mishra (@somenmishra0) May 14, 2022
Star kid or non-star kid; one needs to have the talent. Mediocrity is no longer sellable. Many south star kids have not taken off as well
— Sneha Banerjee (@snehabanerg) May 14, 2022
Disagree. No one is worried about generational acting families. It is when the actor or actress is given undue importance when you have better people to fill that role.
— Bharat (@Bharat4Change) May 15, 2022
For example Ramcharan, NTR are all from acting families, if they have not improved, they will loose relevance
There is one difference. Those second/third/fourth generation star kid will be talented unlike a few in Hindi. Not naming any.
— Ram S Narayan (@RamSNarayan) May 15, 2022
True, but working mechanism of south is much better than Bollywood, connect of south starts to local audience is also much better. Still south is just one or two points better than Bollywood otherwise it’s just the same.
— Ranga Qaatil (@Rangaqaatil) May 15, 2022
The nepotism debate in the Indian film industry is a big loop. It goes on and on and on, with no signs of any reconciliation. Normally I would end this by saying “do better,” but we all know they won’t so what’s the point.
