🎬 Nepotism Isn’t the Culprit — Arrogance, Conceit, Deceit, and Mediocrity Are
- Sajeev Varghese
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
🎭The Manufactured Illusion of Legacy
What happens when a movie sinks faster than its own hype? Panipat (2019) was supposed to be an epic — a clash of empires and ideals. Instead, it became another monument to Bollywood’s blind spots. Arjun Kapoor, son of producer Boney Kapoor and the late Mona Shourie, once again turned battlefield valor into box-office apathy. His performance wasn’t the only failure; the system that kept giving him chances was. The same playbook is being recycled by Boney Kapoor with his daughters (with Sridevi), Janhvi and Khushi — talent optional, last names essential.
In Bollywood, lineage isn’t a blessing. It’s a business model. A culture that mistakes promotion for performance, and family privilege for filmmaking craft, doesn’t just fail to grow — it forgets how to tell the truth.
For decades, nepotism has been Bollywood’s favorite scapegoat. It’s the convenient villain — easy to name, easier to hate. But the truth is far less glamorous and far more uncomfortable: being born into a film family isn’t a crime. Every industry has dynasties. Legacy isn’t the disease. It’s what you do with it that determines whether you cure or corrupt the craft.
In Indian cinema — particularly Bollywood — the rot runs much deeper than lineage. The real contagion is a mindset: one built on arrogance, conceit, and deceit, where success is manufactured and artistry is optional. Nepotism didn’t kill Indian cinema — the toxic shame of mediocrity did.
This isn’t about access; it’s about attitude.
Bollywood’s crisis stems from a chronic disrespect — for storytelling, for craftsmanship, and most tragically, for its audience. It’s a system that sells illusion instead of immersion, ego instead of empathy, and noise instead of narrative. A machine that treats viewers not as intelligent participants in the art of cinema, but as gullible consumers of hype.
Nepotism may open doors. But what happens inside those doors — the neglect of preparation, the absence of humility, the betrayal of craft — that’s what’s eroding India’s cinematic soul. Until the industry learns to revere story over surname, performance over perception, and authenticity over artifice, Indian cinema will continue mistaking visibility for value and marketing for merit.
Because in the end, it’s not who you are born to — it’s what you bring to the frame that defines whether you deserve to be there.
🎭 Star Kids Aren’t the Problem — The System That Launches Them Is
Star kids aren’t inherently undeserving. But they’re often launched, not earned.
In Bollywood, a debut isn’t a test of craft — it’s a coronation.
Script? Written to flatter.
Camera? Worships, never observes.
Marketing? Explosive, even before the first frame is shot.
Everything is designed to build a myth, not a movie.
But audiences have changed. The Internet democratized access to good cinema — Korean, Malayalam, Hollywood, Iranian. Once you’ve seen Parasite, Drishyam, or Oppenheimer, you can’t unsee lazy storytelling.
The result?
A growing disconnect. While filmmakers pretend to speak to the masses, they’re really talking to the mirror — their own echo chamber. Read my blog post - "The Nepotism Con — Bollywood Playbook Reloaded."
🎥 The Burden of Legacy and the Absence of Accountability
Legacy used to mean responsibility. Today, it’s entitlement on repeat.
The children of legends inherit production banners, marketing muscle, and media control — but not their parents’ discipline. Their fathers built studios; they build followings. Their mothers were storytellers; they’re influencers.
And when the film flops? Blame the audience. “They didn’t get it.”
When it works? “We’ve redefined cinema.”
This selective accountability is killing trust. The audience doesn’t expect perfection — they expect authenticity. What they get instead are inflated numbers, manipulated ratings, and self-congratulatory award ceremonies. Read my blog post - "India’s National Film Awards Are at a Crossroads: Stop Rewarding Hype, Start Valuing Storytelling Craft."
🎬 Why Mollywood Gets It Right — Responsibility Over Entitlement
Travel south, and you’ll find a different cinema culture.
In Malayalam cinema, talent is the only currency that counts.
Fahadh Faasil’s first film tanked. He didn’t buy a PR campaign — he rebuilt his craft. Dulquer Salmaan, despite being Mammootty’s son, didn’t demand a pedestal. He earned it — one performance at a time.
The veterans there don’t hoard opportunities — they multiply them. Mammootty has mentored over 70 directors. Fahadh backs first-time filmmakers. Dulquer funds new voices. The system there isn’t built to sustain dynasties — it’s built to sustain excellence.
In short:
Mollywood respects the audience. Bollywood manipulates it.
🎭 What the West Does Differently — Craft, Not Clout
Watch Anemone — Daniel Day-Lewis, directed by his son Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis. No PR circus. No red-carpet coronation. Just an artist passing down craft, not clout. A father mentoring a storyteller, not manufacturing a star.
In Hollywood, legacy means legacy of craft.
In Bollywood, it’s often a PR stunt masquerading as legacy.
Until we separate mentorship from manipulation, Indian cinema will keep recycling the same surnames while losing its soul.
🎯 The Real Issue — Disrespect for the Audience
For decades, Bollywood has operated on a dangerous assumption — that the Indian audience can be conned.
Not convinced. Not inspired. Not moved. Conned.
Scripts are written not to engage, but to manipulate emotion with formulaic shortcuts. Acting is performed not to transform, but to pose. And every release weekend becomes a national marketing event designed to manufacture a collective delusion: that spectacle is substance, that noise is narrative, and that fame equals film.
The target audience isn’t the intelligent, discerning viewer. It’s the lowest common denominator — an imagined mass that will buy anything with enough glamour, noise, and deceit. That’s why mediocrity has become Bollywood’s business model.
Instead of raising the audience, Bollywood lowered itself to its own caricature — cheap VFX for false grandeur, manufactured stardom for real merit, sexualized sleaze for emotional depth, slapstick for satire, and PR illusions for authenticity.
Each frame, each launch, each award is now designed not to honor storytelling, but to protect hierarchy. Every flop is followed by “damage control PR,” every vanity project by “record-breaking numbers,” every hollow film by a “blockbuster remix of nostalgia.”
It’s the industrialization of deceit — the illusion economy.
And the tragedy? The audience sees it. They scroll past it. They mock it online. They’re not fooled anymore — they’ve simply moved on.
Today’s Indian audience watches Kantara for its rooted power, Drishyam for its airtight storytelling, Oppenheimer for its psychological precision, and Dune for its immersive worldbuilding. They crave believability, emotional truth, intellectual depth, and meaningful relevance.
The audience isn’t the problem. It’s the solution waiting to be respected.
Until Indian cinema — especially Bollywood — acknowledges that an educated, emotionally intelligent audience is its best audience, it will keep producing empty noise while the rest of the world moves forward with stories that stir souls and spark change.
When you disrespect the audience, you don’t just lose credibility —you lose your future.
🌍 Global Reality Check — Raising the Audience, Not Lowering the Bar
While Bollywood continues to engineer illusions for the lowest common denominator, the rest of the world has moved in the opposite direction — upward.
In Hollywood, filmmakers assume the audience is intelligent. Christopher Nolan doesn’t simplify time theory for Interstellar; he trusts viewers to keep up. Denis Villeneuve doesn’t explain Dune — he immerses you in it. Greta Gerwig didn’t pander with Barbie; she weaponized irony to question consumerism itself. In each case, the filmmaker raises the audience rather than reduces them.
In South Korea, filmmakers treat storytelling as national craftsmanship. Parasite didn’t need stars — it had subtext. Decision to Leave didn’t need explosions — it had restraint. Every frame trusts the viewer’s intelligence. That’s the hallmark of cinematic maturity: respect that transcends translation.
Even within India, Mollywood and Tamil cinema have proven that elevation works. Kantara, Jai Bhim, Drishyam, Kaithi, 2018 — these films spoke in local dialects but resonated globally because their creators didn’t dilute their vision. They believed the audience would rise to meet the story. And they did.
👉 When you raise your storytelling standards, you elevate your audience.
👉 When you dumb it down, you diminish both.
The global film community doesn’t chase hype — it chases honesty. Storytelling craft is what travels; manufactured stardom doesn’t cross borders. The world doesn’t need to understand your language to feel your truth — it just needs to recognize your respect for them as viewers.
Until Bollywood learns that lesson, it will keep exporting spectacle and importing shame, while South India, Korea, and Hollywood quietly claim the world’s respect through the only universal currency that matters — Storytelling Craft.
🚀 The Path Forward — Story-First Responsibility
The cure for Indian cinema isn’t cancellation — it’s correction.
The future belongs to filmmakers who treat cinema not as inheritance, but as service — a sacred duty to story, audience, and craft. Those who see privilege not as a shortcut, but as a stewardship. Those who measure success not in box office crores, brand deals, or magazine covers — but in the hearts they move, the truths they reveal, and the culture they elevate.
If you’re a filmmaker — start here:
🎬 Respect the story. Don’t bend it to fit your ego. Let the narrative breathe beyond your brand.
🎭 Respect the audience. They’ve evolved — and they see through everything now.
🧠 Respect the craft. Train harder. Collaborate wider. Dig deeper. Stop playing to fandoms. Start playing to humanity.
Because an educated, emotionally intelligent audience is our best audience.
They are no longer fooled by hype, nor seduced by hollow stardom. They crave stories that reflect their lives, challenge their minds, and move their souls.
The next century of Indian cinema won’t be owned by dynasties — it will be led by story-first filmmakers who have the courage to be truthful, the humility to learn, and the skill to transform imagination into meaning.
So stop chasing illusion.
Start chasing impact.
The Rewrite Generation is watching. And it’s ready to build what Bollywood forgot —a cinema that earns global respect through craft, conscience, and character.
✊ Story-first isn’t rebellion — it’s restoration.
A restoration of respect — for story, for audience, for craft.
A restoration of integrity — where legacy serves purpose, not privilege.
A restoration of vision — where India’s oldest film industry rediscovers its soul and reclaims its global stage.
🎬 Because the future of Indian cinema won’t be inherited — it will be earned.
👉 Are you ready to see your filmmaking through the lens of Story-First Intelligence?
🟢 Learn more. Get leveled-up. Join the Rewrite.
📍 Explore The Story-First Workbook
And it starts with you.
The Rewrite Generation begins with you. 🎬🔥