Khan vs Kashyap
Abhinav Kashyap makes startling allegations about Salman and the ‘Bandra Cartel’
On Monday night, Bollywood filmmaker Abhinav Kashyap, director Anurag Kashyap’s younger brother, called out the film industry for their alleged role in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, who committed suicide on Sunday.
In two lengthy Facebook posts, Kashyap first called out the industry and then launched a scathing attack on Salman Khan and his brothers, Arbaaz and Sohail, as well as the Bollywood group he has termed the ‘Bandra Cartel’. Although they haven’t been named, some of the big stars living in Bandra include Shah Rukh Khan, the Kapoor family, and Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan.
Here are some of the things he said: Agencies are potential death traps: Kashyap alleged that Yash Raj Films’ talent management agency may have played a role in pushing Sushant Singh Rajput to suicide. “Such agencies ruin your career and life. Having suffered personally for a decade, I can confidently say that every talent manager and agency in Bollywood are potential death traps.”
Upcoming actors with no mentor end up becoming escorts: Kashyap explains the alleged modus operandi of a talent agency. Claiming that he was also subject to this type of humiliation, he alleged, “Once a talent is signed up with the agency, then they give up their right to exercise free choice and are made to work as bonded labour with very little money. If they escape the clutches of the agency, they are boycotted till they jump ship to another agency hoping for a better tomorrow. However, this tomorrow never comes. They either commit suicide or succumb to prostitution.”
Arbaaz and his brothers bullied me: Kashyap said that after the success of Dabangg, he wanted to make another movie, but Arbaaz Khan and his brothers wanted to take control of his career. “Arbaaz Khan sabotaged my second project with Shree Ashtavinayak Films that I was signed up with by personally calling their head Mr. Raj Mehta and threatening him with dire consequences if they made a film with me. I had to return the signing money to Shree Ashtavinayak films and moved to Viacom Pictures. They did the same thing. Only this time the sabotager was Sohail Khan and he intimidated the then Viacom CEO Vikram Malhotra. My project was sabotaged and I was made to return my signing fee of Rupees 7 Crores plus interest of Ninety odd lacs. Its only then that Reliance Entertainment came to my rescue and we forged an enduring partnership for my film Besharam,” he alleged
After blaming Salman Khan and his family, Abhinav put out another post where he said he won’t commit suicide, but if something were to happen the country knows ‘who to blame’. “Treat this as my police statement. Cheers,” Kashyap wrote.
Salman’s bullying tactics: Kashyap has said that Salman delayed the release of Besharam. “Mr. Salman Khan and family sabotaged the release of the film and got their PROs to run a sustained negative smear campaign against me and my film Besharam before release. This scared the distributors from buying my film. Reliance Entertainment and I were capable and courageous enough to release the film ourselves but the battle had just begun. My enemies, which there were many ran a sustained nega
tive Trolling and badmouthing campaign against the film till the Box Office of my film collapsed. But to their horror, Besharam had still netted 58 crores before it went out of theatres,” he wrote.
My real enemies are…: Kashyap has said that his enemies are cunning and are always hidden in plain sight, but he knows who they are. “Let it be known that they are Salim Khan, Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan. There are many other small fry’s but Salman Khan family is the head of this venomous serpant. They use a clever mix of their illgotten money, political clout and connections with the underworld to intimidate anyone and everyone.” Why he hasn’t named others:
Kashyap says he holds no grudges against the others, but has it for the Khans. “I hope the people who have personally suffered at the hand of others can find the courage to write their own story with names. Expose your own tormentors. Or else don't expect any help from me.. This is my own struggle against the Salman Khan family and I alone am enough to take these guys on.”