'Cold and ruthless', 'cruel', 'an outsider will always feel like an outsider', 'shallow industry' and 'a hypocritical society.'
No, these aren't the words we are using for Bollywood, these are the words used by the very members of the film fraternity in the past few days.
As people mourn the death of 34-year-old actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the debate on how 'Bollywood is a cruel place' has come back to the limelight.
Some reports suggest Sushant was being isolated by the Bollywood fraternity despite being one of the most promising stars and was struggling due to lack of opportunities-- which led to his death by suicide.
This created an uproar on Twitter.
The social media saw trending hashtages like #NepotismBollywood, #BollywoodBlockedSushant, #MafiaBuisness, #JusticeForSushantSinghRajput, #KaranJoharIsBULLY and many more.
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Many actors, directors, writers and other insiders have come out to recall the 'cruel reality' of Bollywood after Sushant Singh's death.
In a tweet, veteran actor Dharmendra wrote despite not knowing Rajput personally, his death served as a reminder that the industry could be 'cruel'.
Actor Meera Chopra penned a powerful note about the loneliness one feels working in an industry, which is 'cold and ruthless'.
An old video has been making rounds in which Sushant Singh Rajput says 'nepotism is everywhere. If you deliberately don't allow right talent to come up, then there is a problem'. Sharing that video on Twitter, actor-politician Prakash Raj asks if 'anyone will now stand up to the practice of nepotism in the film industry.'
However, it won't be correct to restrict Sushant Singh's death to nepotism alone. His death by suicide has thrown light on depression and loneliness and how one needs to be there for their colleagues and friends during tough times.
Director-producer Karan Johar himself in a post, after the actor's death, stated how sometimes he did feel that Sushant 'may have needed people to share (his) life with but somehow never followed up on that feeling'.
Calling Sushant's death a wake-up call, actor Vivek Oberoi took to Twitter saying even his journey was 'dark and lonely but he fought through it.'
Sushant Singh Rajput started his career on television. With no Bollywood 'privileges', he made a name one film at a time with hits like M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, Kai Po Che!, Shhudh Desi Romance, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy.
Be it when actor Kangana Ranaut called director-producer Karan Johar the 'flagbearer of nepotism' on his own show Koffee With Karan or the time when young Ananya Pandey 'complained' about it and debutant Siddhant Chaturvedi 'silenced' her, nepotism has and will always be one of the burning topics in the Hindi film indutry.
The debate of talent Vs privilege has been a contentious one.
But the issue will remain just a 'buzzword' if the fraternity doesn't stand up for what's right and wrong. As filmmaker Anubhav Sinha says, 'the Bollywood Privilege Club must sit down and think hard.'
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