When Kangana Ranaut set fire to the nepotism debate on an episode of Koffee With Karan, few knew that the same show would signal a shift in the Bollywood order. As Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal walked through the hallowed corridors of Bollywood’s ultimate insider talk show, one could almost hear Lata Mangeshkar go “Aaaaaaa Aaaaa” (from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham) to mark the momentous occasion. With only a fraction of the fame of Johar’s usual star kids, the duo delivered the season’s most entertaining episode.
It was telling of how conducive things had become for an outsider navigating their way through the choppy waters of a Bollywood career; both actors slayed with their wit and looked completely at ease while doing it.
Only a few days after that episode premiering, Vikrant Massey has been chosen as the leading man opposite Deepika Padukone in Meghana Gulzar’s next. Massey, who astounded many with his lead performance in A Death In The Gunj, was previously considered for comparatively insignificant roles. But this promotion to a film’s leading man comes at an interesting time in Bollywood, where Massey’s compadres Rajkummar Rao and Ayushmann Khurrana have only recently graduated from being ‘talented actors’ to ‘heroes’ of 100-crore films.
Both Stree and Badhaai Ho have injected fresh hope into Bollywood’s age-old myth of how ‘content is king’. With this (rare) bold casting decision, Bollywood has sounded the alarm for the star kids trying to make it purely on their legacy and access.
Massey will be the second consecutive “outsider” leading man in a Meghana Gulzar film, after Vicky Kaushal’s beautifully restrained performance in Raazi. On both occasions, the films are built around the female superstar while the man plays second fiddle (subverting the usual trend). Actors like Kaushal and Massey clearly don’t mind serving the cause of the female protagonist, considering how they’ve been cast repeatedly as the best friend of the male protagonist. And yet, it’s hard to argue that in Gulzar’s films the male leads are glazed with an unmistakable dignity that cannot be said for the female leads in most Bollywood blockbusters centered around male leads. Or for that even the role of the Masseys, Kaushals, Raos… in male-centric films.
Vikrant Massey was recently in news for his nicely calibrated performance in Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur. Playing the ‘brains of the organisation’, Massey was the perfect foil for the trigger-happy Ali Fazal. Fazal too has seen remarkable growth as an actor in the past year, with his international fame coming from starring opposite Judi Dench in Victoria & Abdul. As Mirzapur‘s muscular and volatile Guddu bhaiya, Fazal was largely convincing as a character outside his comfort zone of the silent, brooding type. Fazal has emerged as a brilliant prospect as the studious leading man, and more importantly spelling more opportunities for the outsider in Bollywood.
If Rajkummar Rao, Irrfan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui were the exceptions in the midst of star kids and Bollywood insiders, 2018 has amped up the battle significantly. The three actors now have an entire army of extremely deserving actors in the likes of Massey, Kaushal, Khurrana, Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi among others. There are only a limited number of opportunities, and with the increasing influx of credible actors means that the star kids can no longer bank on their legacy alone, for a successful career.
Of course, the likes of Tiger Shroff will continue to make their brand of cinema without getting affected by ‘good actors’ by the slightest. But someone like Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota’s Abhimanyu Dasani could challenge that too.
It’s impossible to hope that nepotism will ever be fully eradicated from Bollywood, but if 2018 is any indicator then Bollywood will be a level-playing field more than it has ever been. The influx of those who care about the craft of acting will only push the privileged folk to pull their socks up. Just look at Ranbir Kapoor’s performances after Ranveer Singh’s arrival as the latest whiz kid.
It will only benefit the audience, who now have the option to follow the work of their favourite actors through web entertainment too. One can hope that fewer embarrassing films, with shameful lead performances, will be inflicted on us.
