"Small films start getting step-motherly treatment.”
Indian actor Manoj Bajpayee has accused the star system in Bollywood of giving his films “step-motherly treatment.”
The national award-winning actor shared his feelings about how Bollywood is detrimental to quality cinema.
He also mentioned examples of exhibitors and distributors prioritising prolific stars over the content of a film.
Speaking to The Times of India, Manoj Bajpayee said:
“As far as the star system is concerned, it has done more damage than good to the quality and content.
“Now the young stars are focusing again on the content.
“When the exhibitors and distributors start concentrating on stars what happens is the quality films and small films start getting step-motherly treatment.”
Manoj continued to mention the impact of OTT platforms and his hopes that new talent will emerge. He said:
“My films have faced this. Whether it is cinema viewing or OTT or TV, people will find their stars.
“They find their favourites and they become their star. How big those stars will be?
“Will they be big like the ones we have since Covid-19 came in? I don’t know.
“I just hope that the star system doesn’t become an obstruction to the new upcoming talents.”
On the work front, during the lockdown, Manoj has had two digital releases.
He features in the Netflix original film, Mrs Serial Killer (2020) alongside Jacqueline Fernandez and Mohit Raina. The film was directed by Shirish Kunder.
His second release was Devashish Makhija’s Bhonsle (2020) on SonyLiv. Manoj Bajpayee played the titular role of a terminally-ill police officer who has retired.
Not only that, but he will be seen next in Abhishek Sharma’s Suraj Pe Mangal Bhaari. The film also stars Diljit Dosanjh and Fatima Sana Shaikh.
Interestingly, the film is publicised to be “an unlikely comedy about a wedding detective on the hunt.” It is scheduled for release on Diwali 2020 in theatres.
Despite the return of films to theatres in India, it appears fans have not welcomed the return.
It was announced that theatres will reopen in India from the week commencing 12 October 2020.
In fact, many cinemas will show several re-releases of Bollywood films.
These include films like Thappad (2020), Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020), Malang (2020), Kedarnath (2018), War (2019) and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020).
According to film critic Taran Adarsh, more films will soon be added to the list of re-releases.
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