Who is the most successful person who entered through nepotism in Bollywood?

 1. Arjun Kapoor

Son of famous film producer, Boney Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor was an overweight adult when he was first spotted by YRF. He was then asked to lose weight if he wanted to start a career in films. And that is what he did. He went on to lose all his weight and become incredibly fit before he started shooting his debut film, ‘Ishaqzaade'. While this film did well and was praised by fans and critics alike, his subsequent films did not do so well. But, he is still seen as the face of many films and his filmography boasts of having worked with some of the biggest names in the film industry.

2. Alia Bhatt

Daughter of producer Mahesh Bhatt and actor Soni Razdan, Alia Bhatt too, was an overweight adult. She was launched by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions in their film, ‘Student Of The Year', along with Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. While she has managed to make a mark with her acting skills, the fact still exists that she was given a chance to debut with a huge banner film because of nepotism. All the three, Alia, Varun, and Sidharth are still considered to be Karan's “children” who he has mentored and are very dear to him. Alia Bhatt is perhaps the only actor who has proven her mettle by doing a wide niche of films like ‘Udta Punjab', ‘Highway', and ‘Dear Zindagi'. A

3. Athiya Shetty

She is the daughter of famous actor, Suniel Shetty and she made her debut with the Nikhil Advani directed ‘Hero' in 2015 along with Sooraj Pancholi. The film was produced by Salman Khan and Subhash Ghai. The film flopped miserably, but their careers didn't as they were launched by Salman Khan and he has made sure to give them the right kind of exposure this time.

4. Emraan Hashmi

Mahesh Bhatt is his uncle and Emraan Hashmi was one of the few actors who came out and agreed to the fact that nepotism does exist in Bollywood. He, in an interview said, “Yes, nepotism exists in our industry, and I got a break because of it. If my uncle [Mahesh Bhatt], who is a producer and director hadn't been there, I wouldn't have been an actor.” His initial films earned him the tag of a ‘serial kisser' and till today, he hasn't shied away from that image.

5. Shraddha Kapoor

She is the daughter of the famous comic-villain Shakti Kapoor; and Shraddha Kapoor got a break in movies because of this tag. While she is extremely beautiful, her acting skills are next to zero. Almost all her films have failed miserably, but that hasn't stopped her from getting film projects. She was last seen in Mohit Suri's ‘Half Girlfriend', which was based on Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name and needless to say, the film fared poorly in the box office. While her debut film, ‘Aashiqui 2' did do decent business at the box office, all her other films have flopped.

That big budget Saaho also bombed.

6. Sonakshi Sinha

Daughter of Shotgun aka Shatrughan Sinha and Poonam Sinha, Sonakshi Sinha made her debut opposite Salman Khan in the hit film franchise, ‘Dabangg'. While that film did huge business because of the presence of Salman Khan, Sonakshi's career was boosted because of that. But, just like with other star kids, she has failed to leave an impression in Bollywood. Her films have tanked at the box office and only a few of her films like ‘Lootera' and the ‘Dabangg' series have managed to shine. She is landing a ton of lead roles in many movies and her career seems to be flourishing.

7. Sonam Kapoor

Daughter of jhakkaas actors, Anil and Sunita Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor too was an overweight adult. When she lost weight, she was offered Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ‘Saawariya' alongside another debutant in Ranbir Kapoor. The film tanked miserably at the box office, but that didn't stop Sonam Kapoor from getting lead roles in various films. Almost all her films have failed to make their mark at the box office, barring her latest release, ‘Neerja', which was directed by Ram Madhvani. She was even publically called out by one of her co-stars, Abhay Deol for the movie ‘Aisha' where he said that the film had more to do with clothes than acting.

8. Tiger Shroff

He is the son of Jackie Shroff and is known more for his controversial sexist statements rather than for his acting. When he debuted with the film, ‘Heropanti' alongside actor Kriti Sanon, it failed to leave an impression on the audience. While Kriti had a tough time getting good roles after that, Tiger's career seems to have taken off with him getting lead roles in multiple movies. It's another story that those films do not do well at the box office.

9. Varun Dhawan

He is the son of famous producer David Dhawan and was launched in Bollywood through Karan Johar's ‘Student Of The Year'. He has managed to prove his acting capabilities and is a huge star with quite a female fan following. A few of his films have done well, but he is still a product of nepotism, and this fact cannot be denied by anyone.

Proper answer to this question is 1.Amir Khan 2.Salman Khan 3.Hritik Roshan 4.Ranabir Kapoor.And this most beautiful girl…

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Bollywood Stars Who You Wouldn't Have Seen Had It Not Been For Nepotism

What changes in Bollywood over the last 20 years have attracted more actresses from upper-class Hindu families?

 It is basically a change in the perception of cinema. When India started making films performing in public was considered a dishonourable job. Infact in theatre plays there was a category of male cross dressers who used to perform female roles as well. And this happened with our initial films as well like Raja Harishchandra where male played female parts.

Soon female characters were played by women but there were largely 3–4 types of women who worked in such film

Hindu families who were part of the performative traditions, temple performers or Devadasis. This prominently includes the Maratha Gomantak Samaj from where we got actresses like Nanda, Padmini Kolhapure, Shilpa Shirodkar, Kimi Katkar etc. From dancing background we had Padmini Ramachandran, Vaijyantimala, Waheeda Rehman. Hema Malini etc.

Tawaif tradition among Muslims (Begum Akhthar, Nargis etc)

Anglo Indian women (They were prominent during the silemt era films because one they didnt need to speak dialogues and secondly they were open to perform bol scenes in movies. After the talkies cinema such actressses like Sulochna, Premila lost work because they couldnt speak hindi properly. There were some who persisted like Fearless Nadia)

Actresses from poor/desperate/greedy wgo used films to earn quick bucks for their family (often forcing their daughters to work)- Daisy and Honey Irani, Naaz, Sarika, Neetu Singh, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Mandakini etc.

Actresses from film families- there is a long list of such actresses from film families.

From late 1950s onwards we see a new crop of female actresses who took training in acting. It started with actresses like Sadhna and Asha Parekh and strengthened with the establishement of NSD and FTII. Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Jaya Bhaduri etc come from this background

Now what has happened in the 21st century is due to expansion of media and multiplex era cinema is no longer located only in Mumbai. With the proliferation of OTT and other mediums, films anf content are made everywhere and more number of women are entrring the space. The traditional dominance of certain families or groups have withered down and cinema has become corporate. Actressses are coming from all social groups.

Also cinema is seen as a profession and a good vocation for money and fame so the erstwhile social sanctions on public performance has so much eroded that today every other woman can be a creator on social media which also has emerged as an avenue for media attention, financial freedom and even road to cinema. Also corporate culture has standardised the working of cinema with a lot of whims and fancies and idiosyncracies of old system replaced.

Why is Shah Rukh Khan making wrong choices even after spending so much time in Bollywood?

 Shahrukh Khan is like captain America; Captain is called ‘a man out of time’ so is SRK these days. He was this romantic hero whom everybody loved and adored. Soon his movies stop making sense and crashed at the box office.

The movie was Kabhi Alvida Naa kehna

Theme of the movie was two people having extra marital affair with each other and later confronting their partners. SRK and Rani, the two lead, couldn’t make their own marriage work and people sympathied more with preety’s and Abhishek’s character, the other two lead. The movie had good songs, exotic location, Experienced director and veteran actor like Amitabh Bachaan. Yet the movie didn’t make sense to the Indian Audience.

People in India just couldn’t relate to such a movie and the movie bombed at the box office. The same movie made it to top 10 in US and UK. SRK’s stardom was no affected and soon he decided to break his lover boy image.

Swades happened and despite all the positive responses it bombed as people couldn’t accept SRK not singing songs with his lead or in that matter romancing. The movie is now a cult classic, but back then people just couldn’t stand to the fact that SRK is choosing roles that are not of romantic genre.

He kept of experimenting as the Indian audience accepted Aamir Khan as the versatile actor and Salman as the entertainer. Action was taken care by John Abraham. Comedy was at it’s peak and SRK tried with many movies by making them funnier. They all received mixed response as people could relate to Akshay Kumar more than anyone else when it came down to comedy genre.

Comedy all of a sudden became the genre of the decade. SRK wasn’t able to perform that well. Soon award ceremony could function without him as the new dynamic actor took over him. Actors like Ranbir and Ranveer were both romantic and appealing to the present generation.

Soon Karan Johar and YRF stopped casting SRK and SRK hated the scripts offered by Farah Khan. He made some really stupid decisions by turning down the roles that could have cemented his position in Bollywood.

He ignored to work with RajKumar Hirani and two actors made most out of their individual movies.

His most ambitious project Ra.One faced the similar wrath from the audiences.Ra.One had touched a production budget of Rs 85 crore and was aided by a 52 crore marketing blitz, most of which were co-branded activities. Despite all that movie was just able to cross 100 crore mark and it was declared a bomb.

Aamir was making nearly 250crores with each of his movies, Salman was touching 300crore mark and Akshay was doing 4 films a years. SRK being from their batch just wasn’t able to perform.

There was a shift of Indian Audience’s preferences and SRK just couldn’t get the movie right. Fan and Zero both didn’t made justice to his character and tanked. He wasn’t able to do any iconic role in the entire last decade. He wasn’t people’s first choice anymore.

The man just felt Out of the time.

What are the top ten Bollywood films that were box office hits, but that have a lot of mistakes in them?

 

What are the top ten Bollywood films that were box office hits, but that have a lot of mistakes in them?

Rustom (2016)- made a mockery of the Nanavati case by completly changing the fact. In reality, Nanavati did k*ll the man for having affair with his wife, but because it was Akshay Kumar in a uniform they forced a deshbhakti wala angle to prove his innocence. In reality, even though the jury voted in his favour the judicial system refused to accept it and he was found guilty. The film is full of procedural errors (Akshay Kumar wearing his uniform during civil trials) and factual errors (in reality his wife herself confessed the affair, the deceased sister was shown in the film as vamp but in reality she was the one who ascended the letter of pardon for Nanavati to Vijaylaxmi Pandit).

Marykom (2015): The mistakes in this film are too many to count. They have shown father of Marykom unsupportive of her career when in reality he was the one who got her admitted to Sports Authority of India. The film show Marykom fighting an underground boxing to save her calf and there she met her future husband. In reality, she never did undrrground fight, the calf was sold to fund the coaching of Marykom at SAI and she got to know abut it much later. Also she met her husband at Hisar when her belongings were stolen and he delievered her passport for her to attend boxing tournament as he was studying at Delhi University at that time. Also her son was not having an operation during her World Championship games it happemed during Asian games that too the game was over way before the operation started and her sponsors funded tickets for her to come back to Chandigarh hospital before the operation started.

Gadar: The film gets the background of the period wrong. It takes the tragic story of Boota Singh and turns it into a mass masala film. In real life Boota singh’s wife was pregnant whenthey were running from the armed people. She gave birth to her child in a ditch and died while Boota singh stood guard. Also in the film Sakina’s family is singing Que Sera Sera in 1940s when that particular version of the song came out in 1956.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: This films invent and propogates the myth that Milkha lost the race because he turned his back and saw the partition memories and lost. In reality he was never in contention to win the race. Also he is seen singing Nanha Munha Rahi Hun in 1950s when the song was released in 1962.

Sholay: The buggest hit of Indian cinema has many illogical scenes including the water tanker scene because even though there is no electricity in thr village they have a water tanker.

Amar Akbar Anthony : Again so many illogical scenes like three people dispensing blood at the same time, Amitabh’s wounds shifting places, no one recognising the three brothers even though they are literally singing out loud their names!! Vinod khanna is able to remember and locate exactly where he hid his toy pistol 20 years ago and finds it in good condition!!

Om Shanti Om: The film is based in late 70s but show Mithun Chakraborty dancing in his trademark Disco Dancer style in the premiere of Shanti Priya movie, Sooraj Badjatya is seen copying the dialogues of Om which he will later use in Maine Pyar kiya, and Govinda is shown as a waiter all the events which didnt and couldnt happen in the 70s. Also the speech of Om in his first birth for award acceptance is different from his later speech. He gets the order of his servants wrong in the second half.

Hungama: in the beginning of the film, the lawyer of Presh Rawal tells him the story of Anandilal Kathpitiya, and asks him why he sent his son and daughter to foreign land, and Paresh also refer to them in plural, but later the film establishes that he only has one son. So where did the daughter go?

Disco Dancer: The film shows that the enemies of Jimmy attach a high voltage wire to his electric guitar to k*ll him, but his mother gets to know about it and she takes the guitar in her hand and d*es. Does an electric guitar really has that much voltage to kill someone? Not according to any available reports. And he develops Guitar Phobia?? (Scientists are yet to diagnose such a phobia!!)

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: How was the girl able to read the first seven letters and what was written in those letters? How come Anjali never married when she must around or above 30 years old? How was Farida Jalal, Srk and Salman allowed to stay in the summer camp when no other parents were allowed?

Which South Indian movies do you recommend over Bollywood?

 

Movie named 96: Actually it is not merely a movie, it is an emotion. The purest form of love and friendship shown in this movie is incredible. A story of one night seems like a journey and you feel like a part of it. At the end of the movie your heart and brain are in fight against each other about how the movie should end, you want your heart to win but you also don't want to see your brain defeated. Overall, i think everyone should watch it at least once. Now a days when you hardly get to watch a movie worth watching with your family, this is a masterpiece.

Next is Ratsasan : It started watching it without any expectation as i am more of a reader than a movie freak but this movie literally blew my mind away. Like each novel by Agatha Christie forces me to complete it in one go, this movie kept me glued to my chair till the end. No one can predict what is gonna happen next. Nothing seemed out of the context or imaginary, everything was well executed. And the twist at the end is icing on the top. No other thriller movie has ever affected me the way it did.

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What are some dark secrets of Bollywood parties?

 There are some really dark stories, controversies, fights and scandals associated with Bollywood Parties.

In the 1980s when Sanjay Dutt was in his drug phase he was more often than not, high on drugs and therefore the makers had a big headache controlling him. So a film was launched with Sanjay Dutt and Padmini Kolhapure called Insan ki Aulad. A party was thrown to announce the film. Everyone had arrived but Sanjay Dutt was nowhere to be seen. Apparently he was partying with his friends all day drinking and smoking. Sunil Dutt had already wanted the makers - if you are casting him do it on your own risk, you already know what you are singing up for. Subhash Ghai had apparently slapped him on the sets of Vidhata for inappropriate behaviour tiwari Padmini. But what happened in this party was something else.

When he eventually came he was high and intoxicated. He started touching Padmini inappropriately and made her really uncomfortable. After harassing her for a while he took the knife meant for cutting the cake and went after Padmini. She was flabbergasted and ran across the hall and eventually saved herself by entering her car. Sanjay's father Sunil Dutt was so embarrassed by his antics that he left the party without dinner and decided this is the time to send him to rehabilitation.

Padmini forgave Sanjay and even met him at Los Angeles during his treatment. After he came back they completed two of their related films- Do dilon ki Dastaan and Qurbani Rang Layegi.

What are some lesser-known stories about the making of classic Bollywood films that shaped the industry?

 The making of Bollywood’s greatest classics frequently crossed the line into pure madness, featuring stars shackled in real iron chains and live bullets fired on set.

Director K. Asif spent over a decade making Mughal-e-Azam (1960), a film so expensive that a single song sequence nearly bankrupted the production. For the legendary number "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya," Asif built a replica of the Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors) using imported Belgian glass. The set cost 1.5 million rupees at a time when an entire feature film could be made for a million. Asif also refused to use fake props on his lead actress. For scenes where the courtesan Anarkali is imprisoned, Madhubala wore actual heavy iron chains that tore the skin on her wrists, leaving scars that lasted the rest of her life.

Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah (1972) required an agonizing 14 years to complete, surviving the industry's shift from black-and-white to color film, the introduction of Cinemascope, and the divorce of Amrohi and his lead actress, Meena Kumari. By the time filming resumed in 1969, Kumari was dying of liver cirrhosis. She was so physically frail that she could not complete many of the rigorous classical dance sequences. Amrohi used a body double, Padma Khanna, shooting her from behind or in extreme wide shots, while Kumari managed the facial expressions from a seated position. She died exactly one month after the film's theatrical release.

The industry-defining "curry western" Sholay (1975) nearly ended in tragedy during its climax. Frustrated by repeated retakes while firing blanks, actor Dharmendra allegedly fired a gun loaded with live ammunition. The bullet narrowly missed his co-star Amitabh Bachchan. The film's iconic villain, Gabbar Singh, also came close to a different fate. Amjad Khan was cast only after Danny Denzongpa turned down the role, and scriptwriters initially lobbied to drop Khan during filming because they felt his voice lacked the necessary menace.

A theatrical poster for the 1960 Bollywood film Mughal-e-Azam. Photo by Deepesh Salgia is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

What are the challenges faced by actresses in Bollywood who are labeled with a "non-glamorous" image, and how do they navigate their careers?

 Meet Smita Patil

One of the finest actresses of Indian cinema, but never got the same recognition in commercial cinema because of her unconventional looks and lack of glamour. Problem arose when it started affecting her work in art films as well.

Smita was replaced by Shabana Azmi from the National Award winning film Sparsh because the producers wanted a more saleable face to sell the film to distributors at good price. Shabana Azmi was more popular commercially with films like Amar Akbar Anthony, Fakira and Parvarish etc. This exclusion hurt Smita so badly that she decided to work in commercial cinema and prove her commercial viability. She signed films like Shakti, Namak Halal, Chatpati, Badle ki Aag etc. Problem was that she couldn't adjust to the commercial style of filmmaking. She was so disturbed by the picturization of Aaj Rapat Jaaye from Namak Halaal that she was in tears saying “I didn't came to films to do this”. Otherwise also her performance and dance in films like Badle ki Aag was heavily criticized and she said that she can't dance with latke jhatke and thumkas as Reena Roy can.

Shabana Azmi herself faced the same problem. She came with a bang in the industry winning a National award but she was very awkward working in commercial films. During Fakira, she had to do a romantic scene with Shashi Kapoor and she couldn't do the typical romantic heroine role, she was also in tears. Also she remembers she was badly scolded by the dance master during the shooting of Parvarish because she was dancing alongside Neetu Singh who was trained in Bollywood style dancing.

Many actresses who were labelled with non glamorous image tried to change their image end up losing their credibility as a performer because more often than not they are not accepted in glamorous roles by the audience.

Has any Bollywood actress consistently delivered box office hits like the male superstars, and why or why not?

 There are many such actresses who have delivered consistent hits (sometimes more than their male counterparts).

Hema Malini gave 13 hits between 1974–75. This includes 1 All Time Blockbuster, 1 Blockbuster, 3 Superhits. In 1974 Hema Malini delivered the 3rd highest grosser (Dost), 4th highest grosser (Prem Nagar), 6th highest grosser (Amir Garib), 8th highest grosser (Patthar aur Payal), 10th highest grosser (Haath ki Safai), 16th Highest grosser (Kasauti) and an average grosser (Dulhan)

In 1975 she had Sholay (All Time Blockbuster, HGOTY), Sanyasi (Blockbuster, 3rd highest grosser), Pratigya (Superhit 5th highest grosser), Dharmatma (10th highest grosser), Do Thug (15th hughest grosser, moderate grosser), Khushboo (critically acclaimed moderate grosser)

Similarly Reena Roy in 1982 did 13 films out of which 8 were average grossers or hit. Jiyo aur Jeeno Do (3.10 crores), Baghavat (3.30 crores), Dharam Kanta (3 crores), Sanam Teri Kasam (2.30 crores), Hathkadi (2.8 crores), Dard ka Rishta (critically acclaimed success) were hits and Main Inteqam Loonga (2.50 crores), and Badle ki Aag (2.60 crores) were average. Even Bezubaan (1.75 crores) was critically acclaimed.

Sridevi had brilliant years in 1983–84 and 86–87. In 1983–84 she had six major hits- Himmatwala (6 crores, 4th hughest grosser), Justice Chaudhary (4.25 crores, 8th highest grosser) Mawali (4.75 crores 6th highest grosser), Jani dost (9th highest grosser), Tohfa (highest grosser of 1984) and Maqsad(2nd highest grosser of 1984). Add to that Sadma and Jaag utha Insan received critical acclaim.

In 1986, The highest grosser was Karma with Sridevi, 2nd highest grosser was Aakhiri Rasta with Sridevi, 3rd highest grosser was Nagina with Sridevi. 5th highest grosser was Ghar Sansar with Sridevi and sixth highest grosser was Janbaaz with Sridevi. In 1987 she had hits- Mr.India (5 crores, 2nd highest grosser), Watan ke Rakhwale (4.25 crores 5th highest grosser), Jawab Ham Denge (2.8 crores).

In 1989, Madhuri Dixit had 9 releases with 0 flops. She had two major Blockbusters- Ram Lakhan (9 crores, 2nd highest grosser) and Tridev (8.5 crores 3rd highest grosser), and 5 hits (Prem Pratigyaa, Ilaka, Mujrim, Vardi and Parinda), and 2 average grossers (Kanoon Apna Apna) and Paap ka Ant.

In 1996–97 and 1999, Karishma Kapoor dominated the industry with multiple hits. In 1996 she had the All Time Blockbuster Raja Hindustani (45 crores), And majir hits like Jeet, Sajan Chale Sasural. In 97 again she had 3 major hits - Dil to Pagal Hai (34 crores), Judwaa and Hero no 1. And to top it all she had 1999, where the HGOTY was Ham Saath Saath hai with Karishma, 2nd Highest grosser was Biwi no 1 with Karishma, anf two more hits Janwar and Haseena Maan jayegi.

Kajol had a terrific 1997-1998 with multiple hits- Gupt and Ishq in 1997 both superhits, Kuch Kuch Hota hai (48 crores, HGOTY), Pyar to Hona hi tha (22 crores), Pyar Kiya to Darna Hai (18 crores) in 1998, and a Tamil film Minsara Kanavu in 1998 which wss a blockbuster and won 5 national awards.

Deepika Padukone had a terrific 2013 with hits like Race 2, Chennai Express (Industry Hit), Ye Jawani hai Deewani (Blockbuster) and Raam Leela.