Bollywood's extended family looks for a reel life too

MUMBAI: The Great Indian Family has become Bollywood’s favourite theme both on and off screen. No longer content with producing extravaganzas about large happy families in reel life, the film industry is recreating the same in reality by inducting the stars’ extended tribe into the profession.
Star kids have always had exclusive entry rights in Hindi filmdom.But now parents, siblings and even distant relatives of industry bigwigs too, are easily gaining a foothold in the industry as actors, scriptwriters or producers, only because they have the right relatives.
So, actress Aishwarya Rai’s mom Vrinda turned scriptwriter the Rs 20-crore ‘Dil Ka Rishta’ earlier this year, which also launched the superstar’s brother Aditya as the film’s co-producer.
Actress Manisha Koirala, who has turned producer, is set launch brother Siddharth as an actor in her maiden project. A young filmmaker recently introduced his actress-girlfriend’s brother in a lead role in his thriller.
A veteran film-maker and two star actors have used their clout to launch their nephews’ acting careers. One reason for the trend is the society’s growing obsession with Page 3 culture, according to film-maker Mahesh Bhatt.
“Earlier, only star children were interested in joining films. But now, with society becoming increasingly glamour-struck, even those distantly related to industry bigwigs want to exercise their influence to gain access in the industry,’’ he says.
Also, the growing preference for low-cost films has made it financially viable for filmmakers to experiment with new people, relatives included, adds Mr Bhatt.
Another reason, say industry observers, is that the box office has, in recent times, been fickle with films featuring established stars and film-makers.
“Earlier, a film would sell merely on the name of Amitabh Bachchan or writer-duo Salim-Javed or a maverick filmmaker like Manmohan Desai, says film journalist Rauf Ahmed.
“The industry now resembles a gambling den, where film-makers are willing to try out every new face to make movie click,’’ he points out. The trend has a disturbing aspect. Talent now seems to have taken a back-seat, say industry sources.
Nepotism has always flourished with star kids like Dharam putars Sunny and Bobby Deol, Kumar Gaurav, Fardeen Khan and Sanjay Dutt being launched at regular intervals, says film trade analyst Amod Mehra.
“But now the nepotism is very blatant. It is reminiscent of the Indipop boom in the late ‘90s, when anyone and everyone would cut an album, irrespective of their singing talent,’’ he says.
Mehra believes that this bubble will burst sooner than later, as in the case of the Indipop market.
“Nepotism exists in all walks of life, so why expect the film industry to be any different?’’ asks talented actor-director without any ‘connections’.
Bhatt, who recently launched his nephew Hashemi in his home production ‘Footpath’, insists, “Only people with genuine talent will survive.’’
Indeed, a scriptwritercum-filmmaker cites the instance of Kishan Kumar. His brother, the late music baron Gulshan Kumar, had moved heaven and earth to try and make him a successful hero, but did not succeed.
“So you see, there may be no level playing field in this profession, but there is fairness at the end of it all,’’ he says cheekily.
“Earlier, only star children were interested in joining films. But now, with society becoming increasingly glamour-struck, even those distantly related to industry bigwigs want to exercise their influence to gain access in the industry’’ Mahesh Bhatt.