Mumbai: Irrfan Khan, a supremely gifted and versatile actor, had earned more respect and popularity in Hollywood than in Bollywood.
With the nepotism debate, post Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise, still raging, Irrfan’s son Babil took to social media to share a powerful note about his father’s failure at the box-office.
Babil has written that his father was a very talented actor but his movies didn’t leave cash registers ringing at the box-office because the audience liked movies which featured actors with six-pack abs.
Babil further said that Bollywood is not respected across the globe because Hindi movies lack sensible storylines, good acting and revolve around heroes with well-built physique who deliver one-liners.
“My father gave his life trying to elevate the art of acting in adverse conditions of Bollywood and alas, for almost all of his journey, he was defeated at the box-office by hunks with six-pack abs, delivering theatrical one-liners and defying the laws of physics and reality, photo-shopped item songs, just blatant sexism and same-old conventional representations of patriarchy,” wrote Babil.
Babil feels that the audience of Hindi cinema is responsible for the failure of Bollywood across the globe.
“We as an audience sought entertainment and safety of thought, so afraid to have our delicate illusion of reality shattered, so unaccepting of any shift in perception. All efforts to explore the potential of cinema and its implications on humanity and existentialism was at best kept by the sidelines,” he wrote.
Sharing an experience of attending a class on Bollywood at a film school, Babil stated that none in his class was aware of the 60s to 90s era of Indian cinema.
“Before I went to film school, my father warned me that I’ll have to prove myself as Bollywood is seldom respected in world cinema and at these moments I must inform about the Indian cinema that’s beyond our controlled Bollywood. Unfortunately, it did happen. Bollywood was not respected, no awareness of 60s to 90s Indian cinema or credibility of opinion. There was literally one single lecture in the world cinema segment about Indian cinema called ‘Bollywood and Beyond’, that too gone through in a class full of chuckles. It was tough to even get a sensible conversation about the real Indian cinema of Satyajit Ray and K. Asif going,” he posted on his Instagram account.
Now that nepotism has been called out, Babil hopes that talent will be respected over looks and physique in the industry.
“Now there is a change, a new fragrance in the wind. A new youth is searching for a new meaning. We must stand our ground, not let this thirst for a deeper meaning be repressed again. A strange feeling beset when Kalki was trolled for looking like a boy when she cut her hair short, that is pure abolishment of potential. (Although I resent that Sushant’s demise has now become a fluster of political debates, but if a positive change is manifesting, in the way of the Taoist, we embrace it.)”
During his lifetime, Irrfan didn’t get the appreciation he deserved. But after his demise, Bollywood did mourn his death on social media platforms.
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