Manoj Bajpayee lamented the demise of his Sonchiriya co-star Sushant Singh Rajput with a heavy heart. Like everybody, even he was shocked by the young actor’s death. Sushant’s death has given rise to the nepotism debate in Bollywood once again. It has also shed light on the ugly Bollywood nexus prevalent in the film industry and the ugly games played on talented individuals to curb their popularity. In a recent interview with a portal, Manoj spoke about the ongoing nepotism debate in Bollywood and the harsh reality of the film industry.
Manoj said that the industry needs to introspect and said, “I am not blaming anyone. I am a part of this industry. This is why I said in my past interviews that we have to look inward and rectify that. Rectify, or you will keep getting flak for it, cursed for it and will keep on losing the respect of the common people." Talking about how talent cannot be ignored, Manoj said, “You can't do it. You cannot afford to ignore talent, crush talent, and must give a chance to someone, no matter if he/she is an outsider or insider. Give a chance to somebody who is less capable."
Talking about the industry being unfair to outsiders, he said, “Let me start with this, the world is not fair. I have been saying this for 20 years that as an industry we celebrate mediocrity. Forget about the industry, as a nation we celebrate mediocrity. Something is lacking somewhere in our thought process, our value system. When we see talent, we immediately want to ignore or push it away. This is the value system of ours which is so deplorable.”
He further said, “I have said it before that this industry has wasted talent; so much that in any other country those talents who have not been given their due here, would have been known as the best actors of the world. But we don't care. Firstly, if you don't have talent then you have to be extremely lucky to get by. This is the system I am talking about. This is the cold value of this industry."
(Source: WION)