An article posted on some social media platforms led to significant debates about nepotism in the last week of 2022. It focused attention on the ubiquitous presence of children of famous people in Hollywood and at every level of the entertainment industry. I’m pretty sure this didn’t surprise anyone from India though given our comfort level with nepotism in almost every aspect of our lives. To us, this is known as corruption and inefficiency.
I wondered why this is being made such a big issue and wish the authors of that article had probed into how Indians have been accepting and using nepotism for as long as we can remember. are celebrating. If he had talked to either of us, I’m pretty sure his view of the world would have been markedly different.
We have a lot to be thankful for as far as nepotism is concerned, because it’s possible that our country as we know it wouldn’t exist without it. Look at politics, and how many sons and daughters of politicians are making it to Parliament like their parents and grandparents. What would we do without nepotism in the political field? Select qualified candidates instead of family members? Will we ever get the job done if we go down that path?
Yes, political parties will always be accusing other parties of nepotism, but we know that saying involving people in glass houses and stones, so I will not go into specifics. A simple Google search should suffice for the curious. The children of our politicians are destined to become politicians, and the sooner we wrap our heads around the idea, the better it will be for everyone concerned.
Then there is our entertainment industry, which has been populated by generations of the same film families for decades. I stopped identifying stars a few years ago, probably because so many of them have started to look like slight variations of the same person. It may have been their stylist’s fault, considering our celebrities appear to share the same staff, but I’m pretty sure we can’t rule out the influence of genetics either. Can you imagine the son or daughter of a star changing to make a living in a less glamorous industry? Do we really expect them to waste time getting an education abroad for anything other than ornamental reasons?
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Without nepotism, would we have access to innumerable versions of the same film? I do not think so. We will have new and diverse voices, faces and talents; But where’s the fun in that? Isn’t it nice to be introduced to the children of stars we already love, safe in the knowledge that they’ll continually allow us to gaze upon younger versions of our parents as we head into old age? ?
This is the magic of filmmaking. Hollywood is forced to spend millions on technology to make its aging stars look younger in films like The Irishman. We don’t need to spend a single rupee as there is always some minor member of a prominent film family waiting for an opportunity.
Nepotism has another important role that is almost never acknowledged, that of making sure people stick to what they know. For example, the children of our politicians doing something other than performing in Parliament, or the child of a film star striving to become a functioning member of society and get a real job. Can it really be done? If it can, should it be encouraged? what next? Children of lawyers choosing accountancy as a profession? When will the madness end? I like to believe that we are smart enough to celebrate this habit within the circle of family. The two or three businessmen who control this country have been playing this trick for years, distributing public wealth among their offspring, and we haven’t had a problem before so why start now?
I hope that the coming year will put an end to this futile debate permanently, allowing us to embrace nepotism and accept it as an integral part of being Indian. Without it, we might end up with something far more dire, like a politician’s wife opting out of her role after retirement and choosing to become a singer or entertainer instead. The thought is too much to bear.
When he’s not boasting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost coquettish. He tweeted @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are those of the individual and do not represent the views of the paper.
