Just yesterday I was watching Karan Johar's latest movie Student of the Year starring the Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan the kids of Mahesh Bhatt and David Dhawan respectively. In this movie, there was another character who had a decent role, a chubby bespectacled kid Parsi boy who had pretty strong lines and scenes considering the usual scope of a supporting role like that of the hero's friend. I felt happy at-least Kjo had a heart to give lines to a non-star kid.
Turns out that Parsi kid is Kayoze Irani, the son of Boman Irani another star son launch. DAMN.
It is not just Kjo giving an easy platform to the star kids, there are plenty of examples of Kapoors, Deols and even Bhagnanis where it just matters what your surname is. Very few outsiders can even hope to break in the clique and even if they do they did need to work twice as hard to maintain their position.
Even looking beyond Bollywood, look in the corporate industry or politics, you will see several examples of seats been kept warm for the scions. Even in media you have several star sons and daughters, Barkha Dutt is the daughter of leading journalist Prabha Dutt. Rajdeep Sardesai is the son of cricketer of Dileep Sardesai. Sagarika Ghosh is the wife of Rajdeep. Prannoy Roy is the brother in law of Prakat Karat.
There is not one field in India which are not run by select group of well-connected families. I remember reading in an article few years back, the Pakistan legislature is controlled by 200+ families, I suspect the Indian Parliament must also show similar trends.
The reverse question which people will raise is, if begin a star son a disqualification and speak about the services rendered by the previous generation and qualifications they have acquired. Whilst this is true, the fact is this, it is only a reflection of a feudal mindset where the masses give control of their lives to benevolent landowners or Kings.
Thats why even though I do not really endorse all the following people, I really appreciate the rise of Mamata Banerjee, Narendra Modi, Kejriwal, NRN, Arnab Goswami, John Abraham. India definitely needs change in all fields be it politics, business world, civil service, news media and entertainment. There needs to be a clear break from the "Beta-cracy" which is plaguing our nation.
The question is will this makes a big difference, will the new blood which will replace the old guard make a difference or will it remain the same.
The same fiery Bal Thackeray and Karunidhi who drove the Congress dynasty to the ground in the 60-70s are battling with a large dynasty of their own. The vicious circle of nepotism rears its ugly head. The un-holy nexus between politics, business and government is what leading the country to the un-heard of levels of corruptions.
As the Joker says in The Dark Knight - " The city deserves a better class of criminals"
