Actor Manoj Bajpayee has joined the debate on Bollywood nepotism. In an interview with WION, Manoj said that the industry celebrates mediocrity, and ignores those that are actually talented. The debate was reignited after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who’d frequently spoken about the difficulties that an outsider has to face in the industry.
“Let me start with this, the world is not fair. I have been saying this since 20 years that as an industry we celebrate mediocrity. Forget about industry, as a nation we celebrate mediocrity. Something is lacking somewhere -- in our thought process, our value system. When we see talent, we immediately want to ignore or push it away. This is the value system of ours which is so deplorable,” Manoj said.
Sushant died by suicide at the age of 34. He was depressed. His fans have picked up the pitchforks against powerful filmmakers, monopolistic film studios, and star kids, for allegedly not giving Sushant his due.
Manoj, who worked with Sushant in Sonchiriya, said that the industry needs to check itself or it will keep facing flak by the audience. “I have said it before that this industry has wasted talent; so much that in any other country those talents who have not been given their due here, would have been known as the best actors of the world. But we don’t care. Firstly, if you don’t have talent then you have to be extremely lucky to get by. This is the system I am talking about. This is the cold value of this industry. I am not blaming anyone. I am a part of this industry. This is why I said in my past interviews that we have to look inward and rectify that. Rectify, or you will keep getting flak for it, cursed for it and will keep on losing respect of the common people,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Manoj, who worked with Sushant in Sonchiriya, said that the industry needs to check itself or it will keep facing flak by the audience. “I have said it before that this industry has wasted talent; so much that in any other country those talents who have not been given their due here, would have been known as the best actors of the world. But we don’t care. Firstly, if you don’t have talent then you have to be extremely lucky to get by. This is the system I am talking about. This is the cold value of this industry. I am not blaming anyone. I am a part of this industry. This is why I said in my past interviews that we have to look inward and rectify that. Rectify, or you will keep getting flak for it, cursed for it and will keep on losing respect of the common people,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Talking about himself, Manoj said that he survived in the industry as he is thick-skinned and ‘the son of a different mother’. He said that films of a smaller scale are not marketed properly and the moment they start doing well, they are pulled out of theatres.
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