“Ab raja ka beta raja nahin banega … ab raja wahi banega jo haqdar hoga! (The king's son will not become the king now … the king will be someone who deserves it!)
In the 2018 hit, Super 30, based on the life of Bihar's mathematics teacher Anand Kumar, this dialogue spoken by its main protagonist Hrithik Roshan became quite popular. Ironically, what was said on screen in a Bollywood movie is vastly different from the ground reality.
In the tinsel town, it is still not considered unusual for a king's son to become king. Hrithik Roshan, for one, himself comes from a film family.
Right from the great actors of black-and-white era like Prithviraj Kapoor to Shobhana Samarth to the sons and daughters of contemporary superstars, film dynasties have always flourished. This year, too, more than a dozen star kids are ready to make a foray into the industry, from Amitabh Bachchan's grandson Agastya to Shah Rukh Khan and Sridevi's daughters, Suhana and Khushi Kapoor respectively.
These budding actors, of course, never had to visit a filmmaker's office nor stand in queue for auditions outside a casting director’s camp to get the break. Their connection to influential film families has served as a veritable passport for entry into the industry.
Bollywood has been accused of promoting dynasties for years, but this trend increased in the past few decades. Now, the third and the fourth generations of film personalities are ready to kick-start their innings.
After the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput a couple of years ago, Bollywood was hauled over the coals for promoting dynasty with impunity. Allegations flew thick and fast that some influential people of the industry deliberately create obstacles on the path of promising artistes like Sushant, who do not have any connection with any film family. It led to vociferous insider-vs-outsider debates and also sparked big controversies.
But it is not true to say or believe that the film industry alone has been promoting nepotism blatantly. From political families to industrial houses, dynasties have flourished in just about every field. The children of countless bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, journalists and other professionals have followed their parents' profession without any fuss. Some got success through competitive exams to do so, others just by virtue of being the heir of the family.
In politics, Congress was the first to be accused of patronising family within the party. After Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi became the Prime minister and after Indira, Rajiv Gandhi became her successor and they all kept the party under their control. Congress was even called a one-family party. The opponents of the party believe that it is not merely difficult but impossible for a person from outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to move forward in the Congress. Despite Sitaram Kesari becoming the party president in the nineties and Mallikarjun Kharge more recently, allegations about one family controlling the past have always been there.
In course of time, none of the parties could escape from the charges of nepotism, even the parties holding the flag of socialism aloft, which owe their existence to the Lohia-Jayaprakash Narayan's campaign against dynastic politics. Today, there is hardly any national or regional party, including the BJP, which can be considered to be insulated from such charges.
Nonetheless, it would not be appropriate to say that every person coming from a political family or clan happens to be incapable. Many of them, in fact, surpass their parents. Apart from politics, there are many such examples in other fields as well. There are thousands of instances to understand that success is not guaranteed just because of any family relation.
The same applies to Bollywood as well. Even after coming from a film family, many actors got lost in the darkness of oblivion in the past. Many of them were the children of veteran artistes. In contrast, many outsiders like Shah Rukh Khan became stars even though their families had nothing to do with cinema. But they attained their position only on the strength of their capability and hard work.
Today, it cannot be said that any son or daughter of a star can become a superstar just because of their families. At the end of the day, they have to prove their ability.
On the strength of his family, a new artiste can enter the industry but he will have to show his mettle just as any other struggling actor from outside the film industry. Had it not been not the case, actors like Irrfan, Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi, and Rajkumar Rao would not have been successful and actors coming from film families like Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt would have been rejected by the audience.
In Bollywood too, the ultimate yardstick of success is merit alone, which should be clearly visible for the audiences to see on the screen. The dynastic link can help someone reach the silver screen, but his fate is ultimately decided by the audience. It does not matter at all which family or dynasty they belong to.
