Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has led to a never ending debate over the issue of nepotism in the Indian film industry and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has chosen to speak in its favour. The Satya director took to Twitter to speak vehemently in support of Karan Johar who is increasingly being criticised on social media for fuelling the practice.

Slamming those criticising Karan Johar for promoting nepotism, Varma said, “Blaming @karanjohar for what happened is ridiculous and just shows lack of understanding of how film industry works ..Even assuming Karan had a problem with Sushant it’s his choice of who he wants to work with,like its any film makers choice about who they want to work with.”

He went on to call Karan a bigger victim. “Just want to say this to the ignorant social lynch mob that @karanjohar is a bigger victim in this context compared to their ill perceived and suddenly discovered victim Sushant,” he tweeted.

Further talking in favour of nepotism, he said, “There’s no such thing as insiders and outsiders and it’s only audience who decide who they like and dont ..Film families however big they are can never have power to influence the audience and also don’t forget that @karanjohar is becos people made him big and not himself.”

Varma called nepotism the basis of a society and said, “WITHOUT NEPOTISM SOCIETY WILL COLLAPSE BECAUSE NEPOTISM(FAMILIAL LOVE ) IS THE FUNDAMENTAL TENET OF A SOCIAL STRUCTURE..Like u shouldn’t love others wife more, u also shouldnt love others children more.”

He added, “Nepotism spoken in a negative context is a joke because entire society is based on only a family loving concept ..Should @iamsrk launch someone unknown instead of Aryan just because someone is more talented (in whose view is the point?)”

In an Instagram post Sushant’s death, Karan had said that he “blames” himself for not being in touch with the actor for the past one year. He wrote, “I blame myself for not being in touch with you for the past year….. I have felt at times like you may have needed people to share your life with…but somehow I never followed up on that feeling…will never make that mistake again…we live in very energetic and noisy but still very isolated times …some of us succumb to these silences and go within…we need to not just make relationships but also constantly nurture them….Sushants unfortunate demise has been a huge wake up call to me …to my level of compassion and to my ability to foster and protect my equations…..I hope this resonates with all of you as well….will miss your infectious smile and your bear hug.”

 

He was, however, mocked by many of his followers who blamed him for fuelling the nepotism trend that discourages outsiders to make a mark in the industry. One of his followers had said on Twitter, “Karan, I know everyone is flawed, but Please, let the change start from you. You, just like many other producers, stars & media have contributed to this toxic culture of snatching projects, alienating and feeding on professional failures and personal issues in the Industry.”