Vivek Oberoi speaks his heart out on lobbying and bullying, 20 years after his infamous press conference: It been a hallmark of our industry

On April 1, 2003, actor Vivek Oberoi did the infamous press conference wherein he uncovered some harsh realities of Hindi film industry. And now, 20 years later the conversation around lobbying and bullying has resurfaced, this time courtesy actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who in a recent interview, said that she was, ‘being pushed into a corner in the industry’ and had ‘beef with people’. “I’m glad that I emerged from that. I kind of came up through the trial by fire, and survived it. But not everybody’s gonna be that lucky,” Oberoi confesses.

Recalling his journey aa it marks 20 years since the conference, he says, “In hindsight, I went through a lot of stuff that was unnecessary. A lot of lobbies, a lot of repressive stories – kind of what Priyanka has been alluding to also. That’s been a hallmark of our industry, unfortunately. It’s been one of the dark sides of our industry. And I’ve been on the receiving end of it. I know how frustrating it is, it can make one feel extremely, exhausted and tired. You feel like, I’ve just delivered an award winning, commercially successful performance in Shoot out Lokhandwala and after that, I’m sitting at home for 14 months, not getting any work. When I went through that, I kept thinking, I want to do something beyond, I wanna do something empowering, something that takes me beyond that.” Oberoi shifted his focus to “philanthropy and business “. He adds, “Priyanka’s latest statement is so inspirational in terms of, finding a new space. She went out and explored something different and got out of a rut and, something magical happened for her personally and professionally.”

The Dharavi Bank actor admits that bullying and other disgraced practices “can kill young talents at a budding stage”.

“The industry is a very insecure place. Artists by nature live in a very fragile state because they’re more vulnerable. Whether it was the MeToo movement, the casting couch, or just bullying, lobbying – all of these things take the joy out of the creativity. I’m glad these things are being spoken about and slowly will go away,” he opines.

While twenty years ago the woke culture was missing, the 46-year-old confesses that the “tsunami of fans’ support” now scares a lot of people. “Back in the day when I voiced against it, every “well wisher” would call me up and say, ‘Don’t talk about it. It is like a family secret’. But if you have abuse going on in the family and you don’t speak up about it because it’s a family secret? That’s stupid. How will the abuse get fixed? So, it’s a systemic issue in the industry which is getting better. People are being more vocal. There is more decentralization of power. Less and less people can play God and the fans are now aware. Sushant (Singh Rajput, late actor) should have never lost his life no matter what. It’s just so sad. What a talented young guy and he should have had a better network of friends. You call the industry, a family, then the family should be there for each other,” he signs off.