Richa Chadha expresses her take on nepotism debate: ‘I had to recover from sabotage’

Richa Chadha has penned a blog centred around nepotism after her friend and actor, Sushant Singh Rajput, passed away from suicide last month. 

The actress par excellence said she had to endure ‘various forms of subtle sabotages in her Bollywood stint, while delving into the nitty gritty details of her experience in the Hindi film industry. 

Calling the blame game and the social media trolling of Sushant’s friends and girlfriend after his death “pathetic”, Richa shared, “This ‘blaming’ trivialises a situation as grave as this and conveniently ignores the role of mental health. What unfolded post the tragedy is a visual display of what we call ‘chita par roti sekna’. I never thought a metaphor could be used so literally.”

Richa Chadha, in her latest blog post, further talked about the Indian film industry and how it is divided between “kind and unkind people” and not between the “insiders and outsiders”. She believes in this industry which operates as a food chain, “people are scoundrels when they know they can get away with it.”

Richa wrote, “Those who are anguished today have themselves been cruel to their subordinates. You hate your bully for not being ethical with you, while bullying someone working under you as though it is a rite of passage for them.”

She added, “There are insiders who can be kind and generous, and outsiders who are punitive egomaniacs. In the nascent phase of my career, I was often ‘cut to size’ by outsiders. It took me all my strength to recover from various forms of subtle sabotage.”

In the blog post, the Gangs of Wasseypur actress expressed her take on nepotism, “As for nepotism, it just makes me laugh out loud in real life. I don’t hate “star kids”. Why are we expected to? If someone’s father is a star, they are born into that household the same as we are to our folks. Are you ashamed of your parents? Is it right to expect someone else to be ashamed of their parents/families/legacy? This is a hateful and nonsense argument.”

She added, “‘Star-kids’ have to deal with rivalry within their own clans. Often this is an inter-generational, unforgiving and all encompassing contest. There exist hierarchies within the clan too. We may never know what someone else may be dealing with here. I empathise but I won’t know that pain, unless I am standing in their shoes.”

“We need an eco-system where writers and directors are accorded the most importance. We need gender parity in a real, liveable form. We need robust insurance for stunt artistes and light men,” Richa concluded in the end.