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CANBERRA: When the going gets tough in India, the usual way to deal with it is to look to Bollywood for distracting relief.
This time, however, it is not the latest musical to provide distraction, but rather the imbroglio over the suicide of a popular film actor, blamed on his girlfriend, and raising the specter of drugs in the industry. Indian film.
The story of the actor’s suicide, and more specifically the handling of it by the authorities, the media and the political sphere, as well as the devastating consequences for the actor’s girlfriend, have not only distracted the indigenous people, but also they have actively diverted their attention from the very real. problems facing your country.
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At the same time, it has raised questions among central India about how flawed its justice system is. It has also raised more concerns about the nexus between media and politics and attempts to muzzle Bollywood, the country’s most powerful and influential cultural institution.
For its part, the industry is apparently applauding, and last week a group of producers filed a lawsuit against “irresponsible reporting” from some media outlets.
WHERE EVERYTHING BEGAN
The problem started with the suicide of popular Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June. Originally from Bihar, Rajput had been in a number of successful movies, including a penchant for playing Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni.
Bollywood Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput (R) and Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni pose.
However, many in the film industry were allegedly aware that he suffered from mental health issues, including possible bipolar disorder.
Initially, his suicide was accepted as such, until the intervention of his grieving family. In July, the actor’s father filed a criminal complaint accusing six people, including his son’s girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, of instigating suicide.
India is already grappling with many things: it is currently the worst affected country by COVID-19 in the world after the United States, with 7.5 million infected and 114,000 deaths. The economy is suffering and the International Monetary Fund now expects the Indian economy to contract a 10.3 percent contraction in 2020.
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Violence and injustice against women continue unabated. There is an upcoming election in the state of Bihar, the first major election since the pandemic began. And Amnesty International’s office in India has halted operations after it was effectively banned from accessing its bank accounts, an indication that the government is tightening the screws on NGOs and human rights groups further.
IN THE EYE OF A MEDIA STORM
But all of this pales in importance when the raucous Indian media manages to focus its lens on the inner workings of Bollywood.
Authorities jumped into action following the criminal complaint against Rhea, who quickly found herself in the eye of a media storm.
She and Rajput had been living together in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra, popular with successful Bollywood workers, for about six months. His personal life quickly became public, WhatsApp messages were obtained between the two, some alluding to drug use.
Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty. (Photo: AFP / Sujit Jaiswal)
Almost immediately, an army of social media piled up, labeling her a gold digger and worse. Mumbai police later claimed that more than 80,000 fake social media accounts were created to discredit investigations into the death.
The story grew, with 24-hour wall-to-wall coverage by India’s deeply competitive news channels. “Bollywood is full of drugs” quickly became the theme.
At the same time, conspiracy theories suggesting that the Rajput had been assassinated were amplified by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as well as television networks that are seen as acting as government spokespersons.
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Social media was lit up with claims about the drug-driven savage forms of the film industry, calling it a violation of the country’s Hindu customs.
Three federal agencies, including India’s main investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, along with the narcotics board, were charged with investigating the death.
THE POLICY OF EVERYTHING
When Rhea ended up in prison for a month, other Bollywood actors got caught up in the fight, looking at allegations that they too were involved in drug trafficking. A-list star Deepika Padukone was among those summoned by the police and interrogated for six hours.
FILE PHOTO: Media staff surround Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty as she arrives at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office for questioning in Mumbai.
Perhaps on the cusp, or possibly the nadir, of the whole affair, journalists followed his car through the streets of Goa, the images being broadcast live on television networks with a reporter providing breathless coverage, step by step step, of the automobile trip.
Leaving the soap opera element aside, there is a political angle.
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Bihar’s state elections begin later this month, and the BJP hopes to increase its grip on the state, particularly amid concerns that it mishandled the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Bihar is a major source of migrant labor to other parts of the country, and millions of Biharis were among those returning to their home towns on foot, sometimes traveling hundreds of kilometers.
The situation dealt a blow to the leaders, and the Rajput has now been portrayed as an aggrieved “son of the earth” in Bihar, his face featured on political posters promising to avenge his death, clearly in the hope of capitalizing on the tragedy.
However, the political aspect is deeper. Indian writer Pritish Nandy stated in an op-ed for the New York Times:
Beyond the distraction, the assault on Bollywood, India’s most powerful cultural force, has a clear purpose: to force the film industry into complete silence and submission, and to line up behind BJP’s Hindu majority project.
It’s a wild claim that many might say smacks of left-wing conspiracy theories. But the treatment of actors detained for police reasons has raised valid concerns.
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Deepika Padukone broke with Bollywood norms and showed her social activism earlier this year by attending a protest for students affected during an attack on Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University that many believe was politically motivated.
Could it be that implicating her in this drug operation was retaliation?
With the government medical board in late September ruling the Rajput’s death a suicide, and Rhea released from jail shortly thereafter, a curtain has been drawn on this particular episode.
Deepika Padukone was arrested earlier this month for allegedly buying cannabis for the Rajputs and was denied bail this week AFP / Samit Jadhav
But, as happened with the Aarushi Talwar case a decade ago, in which the parents of a murdered teenage girl served time for her murder, despite scant evidence, the case has reduced the confidence that central India has towards the system of justice of the country. .
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Such concerns are not unusual, with many on social media lamenting the treatment of Rajput and Chakraborty.
For middle-class Indians to remove a deeper sense of malaise in Indian institutions from this controversy is a trend that authorities may not have seen coming, and it may well turn out to be an ingrained state of mind.
Aarti Betigeri is a multi-platform journalist and former foreign correspondent based in Canberra. He recently returned to Australia after nearly a decade in India, where he reported on South Asia for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, Christian Science Monitor, Public Radio International, and many others.
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