Priyanka Chopra, Sushant Singh Rajput, Raveena Tandon: When Bollywood actors spoke about their tryst with camps and mafias in the film industry

Global icon Priyanka Chopra Jonas recently came out and spoke about why she quit Bollywood and moved to America. She shared that she was “pushed into a corner in the industry” and had people not casting her. After her interview went viral, several other celebrities also took to social media to share similar unpleasant experiences. But this is not the first time when actors, musicians and filmmakers have talked about encountering cruel power play, groupism and campism in the industry. We reflect on everyone who provided a glimpse into the murky politics that exist within the Hindi film industry.

Sonu Nigam:The musician shared how the “music mafia” is bigger than the film industry and is crushing opportunities for talented musicians. In one his Instagram videos, the singer said, “The producer, director, and the music composer, all are ready to work but then the music company says, this isn’t our artist.” He also hinted at Salman Khan obstructing his growth in the industry. About it, he said, “An actor, the one at whom everybody is pointing fingers these days, has done this with me, saying I should not be made to sing, the same actor has done this with Arijit Singh also. What is this? How can you use your power like that?”

Govinda: A leading star in the 90s’, Govinda once shared that he regrets not aligning himself to any of the several influential ‘camps’ that exist in the Hindi film industry. “There are massive camps in Bollywood. I never belonged to any camps but I think it was a wrong move. I should have had. It affects your career. It’s one big family. In that one family, if you create harmony and build good relations, it works. If you are a part of it, if you are blessed, you will do very well,” he shared. Not just that, veteran Shatrughan Sinha one revealed that he saw how Govinda’s film, which was in production, was taken over due to some people. “The film was already made but he still had to suffer through all of this.”

Kangana Ranaut: She has talked about gangism and nepotism in Bollywood more than anyone else. Amid her fued with Hrithik Roshan, Kangana revealed that Javed Akhtar threatened her that she would be driven to suicide if she didn’t apologise to Hrithik for defaming him. She also shared how filmmaker Aditya Chopra got offended when she rejected his movie. “After I rejected Sultan, he started threatening me. One night he texted, ‘How dare you’! You say No to me’. And then he told me, ‘You are finished’,” she had shared.

Arijit Singh: The singer had posted an a long Facebook apology to superstar Salman Khan, begging him not to delete a song he has sung in the actor’s forthcoming film, Sultan. He further requested, “You want anyone else to sing this song, absolutely fine but keep a version at least. I have sung enough songs sir. But I want to retire with at least one song of you keeping in my library. Please do not take away this feeling.” It was reported that Khan was offended by one of Arijit’s remarks during an award gala and the singer even hinted at that in his post. “I have been trying to text you call you and do everything possible to tell you that you are mistaken about the fact that I insulted you. I never did. That night in the show It was the wrong time and wrong aura.”

Amaal Mallik: The singer – composer has often spoken about facing biases in the industry, but went a step further to share the injustices he face on “daily basis.” Sharing Priyanka’s tweet, he wrote, “When fans ask me why I don’t do as many Bollywood films? Now you know.” Mallik in his tweet listed the reasons for not doing enough work. He wrote, “I refuse most remixes, I refuse to suck up to power-mad people, I can’t take instructions from non-musical people about music, can’t do the sweet talking all the time, can’t work without the right remuneration, I am not part of any producer-director camp and I’m usually replaced by the composers that ‘LISTEN’ and say ‘Ji Sir’ all the time and lastly, I can’t butter people & do the constant a** licking they have to in order to become their little pets/ puppets to get one song here and there.”

John Abraham: The Dhoom actor acknowledged the existence of camps in the film industry and said during an interview that he had “just started learning about lobbies and camps when other people have asked for the same role as I have been offered.” He added, “There have been family pressures, peer pressures, father pressures and mother pressures. But I feel very complimented that someone wants to do a role that I am doing.” Abraham also talked about how he was often told that “if everybody is dal and chawal, I am caviar. I felt wow but I realised that it meant that you are not gonna get as many roles as the others.”

Adhyayan Suman: Son of Shekhar Suman, the actor asked people to fight against groupism in the industry, instead of nepotism and went on to share how lmost 14 films of his got shelved due to the power play in the industry. “Power dynamics and groupism are there in the industry since years. It happened with me too. My 14 films were shelved and the box-office collection of my films were projected wrongly. People haven’t paid attention to this earlier. It’s very unfortunate that we required a Sushant Singh Rajput to commit suicide for people to realise. I am pretty sure that there might be some pressure as well even if it’s a suicide and not a murder. Because I understand the bigger you get here, they put the pressure on you and no one knows what their intentions are behind all these. It is very difficult to trust anybody in our industry,” he shared.

Sushant Singh Rajput: During a media interaction, SSR was asked if he deliberately stayed away from the ‘so-called camps in Bollywood’. The late actor laughed and responded, “There are camps, I didn’t know? Nobody told me. Clearly, I am not important enough.” But his death in 2020 led to a barrage of debates about how he was “shunned” by camps and replaced in many big films. Abhishek Kapoor, who directed SSR in Kedarnath (2018) said, “I knew Sushant was in pain. There was a system that did not let him believe how much he was loved.” Recently, writer Apurva Asrani also stated that a campaign was run to destroy Sushant’s credibility.

Ranvir Shorey: The actor shared that he was constantly isolated in Bollywood despite being part of some big films. The reason was his fallout with Bhatts. “Yes, that (Bhatts) is what I am talking about. I was professionally and socially isolated, equally pressured from all ends. Every chance and every platform they would get, they would be lying about me, saying I am an alcoholic and abuser. You feel so helpless and powerless because these people are so powerful that the press will just listen to them and not even bother calling you for your side of the story. You just feel so helpless and frustrated because you can’t do anything about it. It got really toxic for me at the time and I had to leave the country for a while,” he revealed.

AR Rahman: It might be shocking to know but Oscar-winning musician AR Rahman was also a target of groupism.On being asked why he does not do enough work in Bollywood, Rahman said, “I don’t say no to good movies, but I think there is a gang, which, due to misunderstandings, is spreading some false rumors.”

Raveena Tandon: The leading lady of the ‘90s,Raveena made her way into the industry basis her hard work and talent, but actor often talked about becoming a prey to groupism. Despite being ‘born in the industry’ (her father, Ravi Tandon was a veteran film producer), Raveena took to Twitter to reveal that the “dirty politics played by the mean girl gang of the industry can leave a sour taste”. In another interview, she shared, “There are bad people who do plan your failure; I’ve been through it. They are the ones who would want to see you down and removed from films. It’s literally like classroom politics. They play games.”

Abhinav Kashyap: Brother of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and director of Salman Khan’s film Dabangg, Abhinav had posted a long note on Facebook to narrate his own bullying experience in Bollywood. Solely blaming the Khan family for it, he wrote, “The reason I moved out of making Dabangg 2 ten years ago is because Arbaaz Khan in collusion with Sohail Khan and family was trying to take control of my career by bullying me. Arbaaz sabotaged my second project with Shree Ashtavinayak Films that I was signed up with by personally calling their head Raj Mehta and threatening him with dire consequences if they made a film with me. I had to return the signing money to Shree Ashtavinayak films and moved to Viacom Pictures. They did the same thing.” He also added that Salman and his family sabotaged the release of his film and got their PROs to run a sustained negative smear campaign against him and his film Besharam before release.

Ram Sampath: Singer Sona Mohapatra’s husband and music composer Ram Sampath also experienced groupism in the film industry. Mohapatra too to her Twitter handle to share about it as it. She wrote, “This illiterate self-important gang works against any genuine, classy, dignified, talented creative professional. Felt heartbroken seeing Ram Sampath go through hell, worse, finally, plug out of this toxic biotope 3 years ago. The final straw was #Raees. Took him 2yrs to recover post.”

Upen Patel: The actor made his Bollywood debut with 36 China Town in 2006 and went on work in films such as Namastey London and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. But the actor soon vanished from the film scene. When one of his Twitter follower questioned him about it, Upen shared, “Suddenly they decided to cut me out and I was left in a corner. I was lost. Confused. Hurt. It was very toxic for my mental health.. suddenly I was not needed in the industry.”