Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide has divided the film industry into two groups: the Insiders and the outsiders, who have made a name on their own. As controversy around nepotism grows, the group led by actress Kangana Ranaut and singer Sonu Nigam have openly taken on known industry names like Javed Akhtar, Karan Johar, Rakesh Roshan, Mahesh Bhatt, Aditya Chopra, et al.
Kangana, known for her outspoken nature, took to social media and revealed that she too was made to feel threatened. “Once, Javed Akhtar (lyricist) had called me to his house and told me that Rakesh Roshan and his family are very big people. If you don’t apologise to them, you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction… you will commit suicide. These were his words. Why did he think that if I didn’t apologise to Hrithik Roshan, I would have nowhere to go? He shouted and yelled at me. I was shaking in his house.”
Blaming the film industry for having double standards, she added, “Were these people calling Sushant? Were these people putting such thoughts into his mind? I have no idea, but obviously, he was in a similar situation. In his interviews, he had said that nepotism cannot co-exist with talent because they don’t allow the right talent to come up. I can relate to it, and hence I am raising questions. I want to know who played the catalyst in this situation.”
The controversy became bigger when singer Sonu Nigam released a statement saying that only two companies were running the music industry.” Today Sushant Singh Rajput, an actor has died. Tomorrow, you can hear the same for any singer, music composer or lyricist because there’s a bigger mafia that exists in the music scene in India. I was lucky to debut at a young age and hence was able to flee from this whole mess quite early. But it’s a difficult scenario for the new kids.”
Talking about the nexus in the music industry, he said: “The entire power is with only two companies and two people. They decide who should sing and who shouldn’t. In my case, I’ve known of this same actor, who’s under scanner right now, telling not to give a particular song to me but Arijit Singh. Now imagine, if they can do this with someone like me who has been a part of the music industry since 1989, what can they do with the new kids,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kangana also alleged that many big wigs in the film industry were professional bullies and threatened actors if they didn’t listen to them. Saying Sushant had a fallout with producer Aditya Chopra, she recalled how when she refused Sultan, the industry ganged up against her. “I remember so many times feeling really lonely and feeling what will happen to me… Why do these privileged people have the power to say that they will never work with someone? It’s your choice if you want or not to work with someone, but why announce it to the world, gang up and make this happen.”
In the meantime, filmmaker Karan Johar, who has been at the receiving end of the backlash after Sushant’s demise, saw a massive drop in his popularity. The producer, who is blamed for promoting nepotism in Bollywood, lost many followers on social media. He too unfollowed many celebrities and is now only following four celebrities, including Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.