The Sushant Singh Rajput death case and the subsequent 'drug angle' had left Bollywood divided into two. Now it has also reached the doors of Parliament. Actor-turned-Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, during the zero hour in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday in a veiled manner, criticised BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan for stating that "drug addiction is in the film industry."
"Just because of a few people, you cannot tarnish the whole industry... I was really embarrassed and ashamed that yesterday one of our members in the Lok Sabha, who is from the industry, spoke against the film industry. They bite the hands that feed them," Bachchan stated.
She also stated that people working in the entertainment industry are "flogged" by social media".
"People in the entertainment industry are being flogged by social media. People who made their name in the industry have called it a gutter. I completely disagree. I hope that the government tells such people not to use this kind of language," she said.
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Posted by Sudhir Chaudhary on Tuesday, 15 September 2020
However, her criticism for the Gorakhpur MP only found him support from several quarters. Among them was actor Kangana Ranaut, who took to micro-blogging site Twitter and question Jaya Bachchan, "Jaya ji would you say the same thing if in my place it was your daughter Shweta beaten, drugged and molested as a teenager, would you say the same thing if Abhishek complained about bullying and harassment constantly and found hanging one day? Show compassion for us also," after Jaya had condemned comments made by Kangana, where she’d compared the film industry to a "gutter".
However, it is pertinent to mention that some of the big names in Bollywood such as Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu, Anubhav Sinha, Dia Mirza, among others have spoken in Jaya Bachchan's favour.
So, now the question is should actors be selective while raising their voice on issues? Why was Jaya Bachchan silent on the SSR death case or Kangana's office being 'demolished'? Why is she speaking about the 'drug racket' now? Is she trying to save anyone?
Ravi Kishan was also quick to retort to Jaya Bachchan's rebuttal. He said, "I expected Jaya ji to support what I said. Not everyone in the industry consumes drugs but those who do are part of a plan to finish the world’s largest film industry. When Jaya ji and I joined, the situation was not like this but now we need to protect the industry."
The private videos of Sushant and Rhea Chakraborty and the alleged 'drug link' that were shown on the DNA show has sparked a debate of sorts among the Bollywood stars. All the big stars who were silent after SSR's death have suddenly become vocal after the drug angle in Bollywood has come to the fore. Some are even questioning the investigation.
So, the point is that should the actors in the film industry go for a 'drug test'. Why are they raising their voices against the 'cleanliness drive'? Several Bollywood films have galmourised drugs. Has drugs become the multi-vitamin for some film artists?
