‘Talking about the toxic environment will put fear among the powerful’

Ranvir Shorey feels it was the “toxic environment” that he faced between 2003-2005 and that’s why he relates a lot with Sushant Singh Rajput

Ranvir Shorey, who recently hit out at “independent film crusaders” who have turned into “mainstream Bollywood flunkies,” says his state of mind today is “melancholic”. In one of his recent tweets, the Sonchiriya (2019) actor mentioned that he went through an ordeal in Bollywood and wrote, “I went through the same professional & social isolation, bad mouthing & lies in the press, and psychological trauma from 2003 to 2005 with the same people who are now involved.”

Ranvir feels OTT will bring democraticastion of content consumption

 

Talking about the toxic environment that he faced and why he related with the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Shorey reveals, “I didn’t want to be vocal about my experiences but when I see people trying to shut down Kangana (Ranaut) and others who are speaking up, I feel that’s unfair. So, I spoke about what I faced. I was called an alcoholic and abuser and no one cross checked the facts. One couldn’t do anything as one was helpless as a nobody. I suffered for years due to those lies with no respite and no way to get justice.” He adds, “Today, the worst has happened (with Sushant) due to the toxic environment in this business. If we won’t speak up now, then when? Powerful people abuse power and there is no respite for the smaller fish. Talking will put some fear in the people who have power and no accountability. What helped me is that I didn’t let the negative emotion consume me, and instead I focused on honing my skills with acting classes.”

 

Ask him what he thinks happened with Sushant and Shorey says, “You can’t blame someone for someone’s death directly. Obviously, Sushant took this unfortunate step himself but we can talk about the environment that was created for him and for many others. It stinks of abuse of power and farcisit system and we must talk about that. A lot of time and energy is being wasted on who is saying what, instead we should focus on the relevant points being raised against a system. Whenever there is an extreme amount of injustice in a system, there will be incidents like the one with Sushant.”

Debates about nepotism, favouritism, insider-outsider have been going on time and again in the industry which Shorey feels won’t help. “Twitter hashtags won’t change things. The problem stems from a bunch of people having control over the distribution and exhibition system as well as media space. What will bring about some change is streaming platforms. It will bring democratisation of content consumption. The next six months will be some form of equaliser in the industry without the box office. Once the theatres open, we will be back to square one,” he says.