‘There are people in the film industry who plan your failure’

Even after three weeks since Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, conspiracy theories and assumptions refuse to die down. Angered by this rumourmongering and blame game, actor Raveena Tandon urges, “Stop sensationalising it now. You can’t blame anyone, not the film industry. This is just becoming a witch hunt, a lynch mob, which is wrong. People have to think rationally. It’s doing a great disservice to the poor boy who’s gone.”

Tandon, 45, reveals she was appalled to read a WhatsApp forward doing the rounds that, “Karan Johar intentionally made a bad film for Sushant, so he could ruin his career. Why would a producer pay an actor crores of rupees, sign him in his movie and then invest so much time and mechanism to intentionally sabotage his own film? Such absurd allegations!”

However, Tandon doesn’t deny the existence of “camps

Favouritism, corruption are integral parts of Indian society. The film industry is the by-product of this society, so it exists there as well. and mean girl gang” in the film industry, which she had also tweeted about recently.

“There are good people and there are bad people. And there are bad people who do plan your failure; I’ve been through it. They are the ones who want to see you down and removed from films. It’s literally like classroom politics. They play dirty games,” she says, adding, “But people like this are there in every industry. We’re in a high profile, glamorous job and the competition is cut-throat, so it gets highlighted.”

Tandon gives her own example of being removed from a film overnight. “I was doing fittings with the film’s designer for an outfit for the evening mahurat party. At 4pm, I get a call that I’ve been dumped from the movie and I’ve to return the signing amount because the hero’s girlfriend didn’t like me,” she reveals, quoting an interview of late actor Shashi Kapoor that helped her. “He had said, ‘Main party par gaya,

It’s undeniable that favouritism exists in the film industry, says Annu Kapoor, reacting to Vidyut Jammwal’s tweet where he expressed displeasure when an

OTT platform didn’t invite him for the announcement their new lineup of films including Jammwal’s Khuda Haafiz. Kapoor, who also stars in the film, rues that not everything is fair in this world.

“Hypocrisy, favouritism, and there I realised the hero is someone else. They didn’t even inform me’. So, what happened with all these false claims of nepotism? Even the greatest filmmaker Raj Kapoor’s family wasn’t spared by politics.”

Mention how Rajput always feared being thrown out of Bollywood if his films didn’t work, Tandon says that’s a reality with every actor. “Even the topmost stars or topmost producer, director’s brothers or sons have that fear. If that wasn’t the case, all star kids would have been superstars today, but there are many who have been thrown out of Bollywood. So, when Sushant appealed to the public to come and see his films, nobody knew that it was said with so much charged emotion. Maybe he was emotionally very fragile always,” says Tandon, who still can’t fathom “what drove such a young, handsome, talented, successful boy to take this drastic step”. corruption are integral parts of Indian society. The film industry is the by-product of this society, so it exists there as well. Expecting fair play would be like living in a fool’s paradise,” he says.

After actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, many actors shared their experiences of facing favouritism in the industry. And Kapoor, 64, feels these discussions would bring about the “inevitable change”.

Weighing in on the nepotism debate, Kapoor considers the term “purely as a patronage bestowed upon in politics or business”. He adds, “Son of a doctor can become a doctor, but if a film star launches his child in the industry, then why cry nepotism? If nepotism worked then (filmmakers) Vashu Bhagnani’s son and Harry Baweja’s son, or even (actor) Amitabh Bachchan’s son would have been like (actor) Tom Cruise... It’s the prerogative of producers to select or reject any one.”