It’s been over a year since the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput stunned the industry, igniting a debate over Bollywood’s working methods. However, actor Vivek Oberoi believes the business is incapable of accepting criticism. In fact, he is puzzled as to why there is such a reluctance to recognise the defects and loopholes.
“We have a good side, but we refuse to acknowledge our bad side. For any individual, industry, or fraternity to flourish, one must know ke hum mein kitni khamiyan hain, our faults and the industry’s wrongs,” Oberoi says, adding, “But we have a little bit of ostrich syndrome.” Because we don’t acknowledge that hamari industry mein kuch gadbad hai.”
Oberoi said of Rajput’s death, “Last year, there was a major tragedy in our industry.” Thenalso no one wanted to admit that there is something systematically wrong (in the industry), just wanted to write it off ke ek incident hogaya.”
Following Rajput’s death in his Mumbai flat on June 14, last year, various topics of discussion arose, ranging from nepotism to Bollywood’s ruthless methods. The unsolved issue is whether it started the wheel of change.
“Whether it is a big star or a small actor, when we lose people due to some unfortunate incident, it should lead to introspection,” says the 44-year-old.
And lack of it remains Oberoi’s biggest complaint about the industry, which he joined in 2002.
When asked what changes he would want to see in the industry, he says, “We should take criticism just like we take love and appreciation.” We should be able to accept it with the same spirit. We need to recognise and recognize our mistakes. That is the first step toward change,” he concludes.
