Nepotism is the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs, according to Lexico Dictionary.
I usually consult the internet before venturing into new territory. The day I came across this word, nepotism, I immediately contacted my best friend Google. I found a beautiful word that justifies an old practice followed by several cultures. Owing to the fact that I have not stayed in any other country for more than 15 days, I have no experience of the system or culture as practised in foreign countries.
For the years I have lived in my country, I have come across several social practices that are absolutely worse. I doubt I can call them social issues, given that they are utterly antisocial activities being practised for centuries together.
It clearly elucidates how nepotism works in case of blood relations. In India, since ancient times, the throne has been passed on to the elder son of the king after his demise. Thus, the importance of a male child has been essential to royal families. Matter of pride, really?
Did anyone even think of a man other than Baahubali and Bhallaladev, being worthy of the King of Maahishmati? For what we see is really an ethical concept or just a piece of art that is making us laugh or happy at the end. We appreciate it, give a lot of credit and, yes, money to the makers of the art produced.
Most of our ancestors have been working hard to gather wealth for their saat pushtein, i.e. the next seven generations, what does that indicate? Each and every parent works hard and plans to provide sufficient wealth and nourishment to their next generation. That is a very pivotal idea behind this system.
Nepotism is looked down upon as an evil activity, only when Bollywood does it.
There are several families in India who end up together in the same profession. We call them as “all doctors in the family”, “all engineers in the family”, “all singers in the family” and so on. These families encourage their kids to follow the same profession as their parents’. Blaming Bollywood for the same practice is an absolutely shameful activity as per my opinion. We have seen many celebrity kids failing in the same profession, after which they adopt some other profession or task either associated or not with the glamour industry.
Be it any field, it is not easy to get in and make space for yourself. Each and every individual has to put efforts to reach that phase to achieve the desired fan following. Even if the platform is made available to everyone, they have to maintain their performance quality to prove ‘the self’ as worthy of that position. Come what may, ultimately the result speaks their reality.
Blaming is an old fashion.
Trolling + criticising is the latest trend on social media. Everyone is busy putting their diplomatic views under the column of ‘sensational news’. We always need a comparison with our views. An analysis is never independent of juxtaposition. Unless we stick to any one ideology, we as citizens of a smart society can’t condemn another ideology.
Heredity is a big positive term that is directly or indirectly connected with the so-called negative term nepotism. Not only Bollywood, but a majority of our nation is involved in nepotism in some way or the other — be it politics, business, art or government jobs, amongst others.
It becomes easy for people to speak against popular names without thinking and considering the pains they have experienced reaching that level of popularity and prosperity. Every field has some loopholes, and so does Bollywood — there is no point in isolating this industry from the rest. A single incident has suddenly shaken everyone from within as if it is a recent phenomenon.
Truth triumphs — we have heard this a thousand times. I feel if this is the truth, it has to be prioritised and brought to some logical and ethical solution. The matter has to be encouraged to the extent that it takes an unnecessarily huge form and wastes a lot of time and energy of the nation. Nepotism is an unavoidable practice for a country like ours. Handling it on paper with ethics is technically an impossible task in a secular nation.
One should not make nepotism a weapon to attack those who are disliked or seek revenge for personal rivalry. A powerful nation is not an impossible concept or dream. Focused work on certain social issues can bring a vast change in the country. Adding to it prostitution, poverty, unemployment, gender biases, female foeticide, girl child education, forest depletion and global warming are some real issues we should regularly discuss and work on.