The nepotism debate has been raging on social media ever since the demise of Sushant Singh Rajput. The term has now become popular in Tollywood and other industries as well. Well, does nepotism really exist in Tollywood? First of all, what is nepotism and who is encouraging it in Tollywood?
Actually, nepotism is two types. Firstly, it’s favoritism towards our own people. Somehow, there’s no harm with this. Secondly, demolishing others career for own people. This surely is hazardous practice.
Coming to nepotism practices in Tollywood, the industry witnessed many actors from star heroes’ family making their debut and most of them becoming superstars with support of fans of their family heads.
Some say that, if these actors don’t have talent and aren’t wise in picking right subjects, they would have disappeared in no time. Who would invest tens and hundreds of crores on flop stars, they question. And, they probably are right.
There’s another section who question why the good and workable subjects are going to only star kids and why not to others. But, the fact is directors in order to join the top directors’ league and to get hike in salary; they will show interest in working with heroes with sold market. And producers will see everything in business perspective. Who will make Baahubali and Magadheera kind of films with a not so popular star? It’s no less than stupidity, if anyone does so!
One agrees or not, nepotism does exist in industry. Nobody is grabbing offers from others, but stars are promoting their sons as their heirs and fans are giving similar support to them. We can’t blame stars, because it’s human nature to support their own people.
On the other hand, more than the stars, their fans are actually encouraging nepotism. They strictly adore their favorite stars and don’t wish to see others coming in competition. They mock a second rung hero when he comes up with a commercial subject. What’s wrong in it, if a hero is ready to experiment, director feels particular hero will be apt to his subject and producer has no qualms to spend extra subject believing in the subject?
Worshiping favorite stars is no wrong, but criticizing others is definitely wrong. We should learn watching films as an entertainment medium. In the time of OTT revolution, people are looking for good content and filmmakers are encouraging young talent. It’s wrong to say that, there’s no future for commercial films. Theater will always be prime choice for entertainment. But, there’s lots of space for talented actors and directors, due to increasing popularity for OTT content.