The Truth Behind Bollywood Mafia

The Bollywood Mafia was accused of driving Sushant Singh Rajput to suicide. Who are the people behind this Mafia? Read our article to find out.

Bollywood has been accused of being an oligarchy. If some people are to be believed there are only a few people who call the shots & can make or break the careers of people. But how true are these statements? Can someone survive & get roles even after taking the mafia head-on?

The Oligarchs

The most powerful celebs in Bollywood are Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, Sajid Nadiadwala, T-Series, The Khans, Akshay Kumar & Ajay Devgan(in no particular order). Any aspiring writer, lyricist, actor, filmmaker has to be in the good books of either of these celebs & become a part of their camp. These celebs are the ones who have 3-4 projects each on the floor at any given point of time. So if you are close to any of these or 2-3 of these power centers, you can expect a steady stream of work. Considering that these oligarchs knew the business of filmmaking & attract the best talent, the odds of you succeeding too go up drastically.

The least rewarding camp is the Aamir Khan camp, as he barely does one film in 2 years & produces 1 odd project in 3-4 years. For an aspiring/struggling male actor, YRF is the “>most rewarding. They will pay you less, but will give you three projects. This is great exposure for a newbie. For female stars, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, T-Series, etc are the most rewarding camps(Please stop reading this article & watch Pogo if you are wondering why). For star kids & established stars, Dharma is the go-to place. Siddharth Malhotra being the exception.

These Camps Are Inter-Connected

Salman Khan has been regularly working with YRF, Sajid Nadiadwala, T-Series, etc. The same goes for Akshay. Karan Johar regularly co-produces projects with Sajid Nadiadwala, Ekta Kapoor, etc. YRF often distributes movies produced by Dharma, Sajid Nadiadwala, etc.

Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan, YRF have on-going deals with TV channels. They wield clout in the TV industry as well.

The Power Of The Mafia

If you mess with one power center, you may get blacklisted by the rest. For example, Salman Khan will make sure that a Viveik Oberoi or John Abraham is not a part of any Sajid Nadiadwala or T-Series production. But even Bollywood’s reigning king can’t make YRF or Dharma toe his line when it comes to casting in projects he is not starring in.

Is Your Career Finished If You Take The Mafia On?

This is a very common perception – that a Salman Khan or a Karan Johar or YRF or Akshay Kumar can finish your career. Like we mentioned before, these celebs have a lot of clout but their power is limited. All these celebs have their share of rivals as well. Their rivals will be more than happy to give you work, just to spite these celebs.

While Priyanka Chopra was sidelined by Dharma, Shahrukh, etc Sanjay Leela Bhansali – Karan Johar’s rival, cast her in Bajirao Mastani, YRF cast her in Gunday, Rakesh Roshan gave her Krrish3. Salman hates Ranbir for stealing Katrina from him, but that didn’t stop Ranbir from getting several big projects. John Abraham has survived despite not getting any projects from YRF, or Dharma, or Vishesh Films, etc & after taking on Salman Khan. Kangana Ranaut has fought with almost all these biggies, & still continues to get women-oriented projects after not having a single hit in 5 years. Viveik’s career ended abruptly not because of Salman but because all his movies were flopping.

While the actors who get considered for leading roles are relatively safe, it is the less talented heroines, character artistes who are literally are at the mercy of the biggies. The biggest example being Farida Jalal – who never got a single project from SRK-Dharma-YRF, after her fallout with SRK, during the making of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But then she too has a steady stream of work throughout. Singers, music composers too can’t take on Bhushan Kumar & hope to have a great career.

There are a lot of independent filmmakers, smaller production houses, financiers, etc who will back you if you are talented. Some of the renowned ones include Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Balaji Telefilms, Shoojit Sircar, Rohit Shetty, Dinesh Vijan, Indra Kumar, Luv Ranjan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra-Rajkumar Hirani, Abbas-Mastan, Priyadarshan, Tips, Vashu Bhagnani, Nikhil Advani, etc who regularly keep making films & can’t be pressurized to drop/consider a certain actor or singer for a movie. But if one of the biggies is starring or co-producing a movie produced by these celebs, then the bets are off.

Sadly, after Sushant’s death, nobody has been speaking about the plight of these character actors, singers, composers, etc. They are the ones who need the most attention.

Is The Bollywood Mafia Evil & Egoistic?

The Bollywood mafia is just as egoistic as any top politician, or corporate honcho, or a superstar. Can you expect to take on Narendra Modi-Amit Shah & yet hope to stay in the BJP? Can you take on the Gandhis & yet hope to stay in Congress? Can you take on ViratKohli & yet be part of the national team? Can you offend Mukesh Ambani & then expect not to be sacked from Reliance. It is expected that they will pressurize their networks to distance themselves from anyone who offends them.

Where The Mafia Went Wrong

1) Bollywood-underworld nexus is a reality. Many celebs are hand in gloves with the mafia. Many celebs, especially till the 90’s got several acting projects thanks to their proximity to the underworld.

2) Another aspect is the bullying of celebs, that too publicly. This clearly has increased after Karan Johar came into the picture. Koffee With Karan should be boycotted in its current format. Award shows in which a top star makes fun of lesser celebs too should not be allowed.

3) There are no clear laws when it comes to royalty payments to lyricists, script-writers, singers, etc. Javed Akhtar, Salim Khan, Sonu Nigam, etc have time & again raked up this issue but nothing comes off it. Many of these professionals retire with no stream of income post-retirement. While top celebs can arm-twist producers & ensure they continue to make millions off streaming rights, TV rights, etc long after the movie releases, the character actors, singers, lyricists, etc are the worst hit. This is grossly unfair. Hollywood is very fair when it comes to this regard. Michael Jackson’s kin continue to make billions off his royalty payments. This is clearly exploitation on the part of the producers. A clear law needs to be framed when it comes to royalty payments.

While fighting for Sushant is fine. But it would be a lot better if people rally for the rights of the lesser privileged Bollywood folk instead. They are the ones who really not your support, not just the sidelined actor or actress who is worth millions.

What are your views on this topic? Please drop a comment or DM us on Instagram/Twitter.

Follow Us On

Instagram: @theopinionatedindian
Twitter: @dopinionatedin