Systemic Discrimination and Nepotism: Are We Victims or Perpetrators?

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

The recent suicide of the famous Indian film star, Sushant Singh Rajput, has triggered a massive online debate about nepotism in Bollywood, the biggest (though far from the only) film industry in the country.

Since the late SSR did not leave behind a suicide note, I don’t presume to know the reason behind his actions. But the national outcry against Bollywood nepotism had been – for many years – a time bomb waiting to go off.

And now it has.

So here’s the problem as I see it. The more popular an actor gets, the more directors, producers, and other film stars want to work with them. Hence, they make more and more powerful connections in the industry, while also making a substantial amount of money in the process.

By the time their children are old enough to start their own careers, these yesteryear film stars have the connections and resources to make sure that their offspring, the so-called ‘star kids’, get leading roles in movies from the very start of their careers. Even if their initial movies bomb at the box office, they keep getting new opportunities, because of the friendships their parents have forged in the industry over the years.

After all, how many of us can bring ourselves to tell a close friend that their child is a talentless hack who needs to reconsider his career choices? Even when it’s the truth. Especially when it’s the truth.

These are advantages that most certainly aren’t available to newcomers in the film industry. To those budding actors and entertainers who didn’t have parents who spent decades building up connections, to pave a smoother path to stardom for their kids.

Talented actors and performers go unrecognized and underutilized while the aforementioned ‘hacks’ get overnight fame and success, rewarded handsomely for the achievement of being born with the right surname.

Hence, the long-awaited public outcry against nepotism in Bollywood. Late in the coming, perhaps, but sizzling with suppressed fury and bitterness, now that it’s finally here.

Bollywood – A Microcosm of the Society at Large

It is true that nepotism is entrenched and pervasive in the Hindi film industry. The list of ‘star kids’ who keep getting acting opportunities despite multiple flops in their resume is ridiculously high.

However, Bollywood is not so much an exception, as a symptom of a larger societal problem that we are all a part of. We all participate in nepotism and systemic discrimination – both as victims and as perpetrators. But it’s hard to see when it is a part of our regular, humdrum, everyday life.

Everything’s more glamorous when it happens to a ‘hero’, including discrimination.

While complaining about the advantages the ‘star kids’ get over other actors, how many of us stop to consider that our own career successes are, in fact, the result of educational and career opportunities that people from the lower classes never had access to? People who probably were far more talented than us; who probably could have surpassed us in every way if given half the opportunities we were?

Consider this: how many of your colleagues come from a completely different social class?

When questioning why the children of bank managers so rarely become film stars, how do we never question why the children of domestic servants so rarely become bank managers?

What nepotistic advantages are the kids of white collar professionals getting, that allow them to follow their parents into middle class professions so effortlessly, when it’s nearly impossible for the kids of a slum-dweller to get those same jobs?

We benefit from the same systems of nepotism that we criticize when we are the victims of it.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. There are famous movie stars who hailed from middle class families and there are middle class professionals who began life as slum dwellers.

But you shouldn’t have to be the exception to the rule, in order to have a shot at a better future.

A big, star-studded launch facilitated by daddy’s connections may be a star-kid’s ticket to instant fame. But so is an expensive professional degree a ticket to instant career upliftment among the middle classes.

Plenty of private colleges offer admissions (and degrees) to anyone willing to pay for them. Naturally, those who aren’t able to pay have to work much harder for that salary hike. As do outside actors in Bollywood.

Which is not to say that you cannot succeed without an expensive degree; or that you will succeed with one. But then, plenty of outsiders succeed in Bollywood and plenty of ‘star kids’ fail. Like I said, exceptions only serve to prove the rule.

How to Deal with Discrimination?

We haven’t even scratched the surface of this nepotistic abyss, so far. Because I’ve just touched upon class discrimination. And that’s by no means the only type of discrimination we live with, day in and day out.

There’s also racial, sexual, caste-based, linguistic, and neurological discrimination left to talk about. And those are just the ones I can think of, off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others you’ll be able to come up with, as you read this.

So, perhaps the most important question in this discussion, is how do we deal with this? There are primarily two schools of thought:

i)             Fight it

ii)           Ignore it

Essentially, this perennial debate rages between two distinct worldviews. The first is that you should always protest discrimination and unfairness whenever and wherever you encounter it. The second is that you should mostly ignore larger societal ills and try, instead, to become that exception to the rule we just spoke about – the actor with no connections who becomes a superstar, the woman who rises to the top of a patriarchal society, or the homeless kid who grows up to become a bank manager. Societal dynamics are entrenched and hard to change, especially over the course of a single lifetime. Far better, then, to try and change your own destiny first.

In my opinion, there’s merit to both arguments. The ideal course of action will vary from one situation to the next. However, to me, the final determinant is whether I’m dealing with the problem on a personal or a societal level.

When dealing with discrimination on a personal level, the second school of thought is often the most effective. Although, ignoring it doesn’t mean you pretend to not see it. Rather, it’s about analyzing it, understanding it, and finding creative ways to work around it. You cannot overcome something you don’t understand. But you can embrace your constraints and find ways to turn them into a springboard for success.

This isn’t easy, nor is it always possible. But if there’s something you want to achieve that’s just beyond your reach because of systemic discrimination, this is the fastest way to get there (without getting murdered on the way). Societal systems are inflexible, deep-rooted, and hard to change on a fundamental level. Bending the rules to get around them, while hard, is still the easiest path to the finish line.

Besides, privilege and discrimination are not unidimensional concepts. Even the most privileged people have faced discrimination and even those discriminated against have certain privileges, whether or not they realize it. Very few people are solely the oppressor or the oppressed. Most of us play both of those roles, in different situations.

From my own experience, it’s hard to get international rates for freelance work when you come from a ‘third-world country’, as many clients tend to have preconceived notions about how much someone should be paid, depending on where they live. But if you live in a rich country and don’t have many specialized skills to distinguish yourself, you’re at constant risk of being replaced by someone in a poorer nation, who’d do your work for half the price and live a comfortable life with that pay.

You don’t get to choose not to have problems, just which ones you’d rather have.

Some advantages, like money, beauty, and social connections are more visible and ostentatious than others. A common complaint on social media these days is that nepotism causes talent to be smothered by financial or social power. This is true. But talent is also a privilege.

Much of what we call a talent – an innate ability or ‘gift’ – is genetic. Of course, it can be developed with practice and dedication, just as inherited money can be enhanced with smart investments. But you need to have some money to invest in the first place. And you need a certain degree of inborn talent to be able to develop it into a world-class skill.

Moreover, you need a talent that corresponds well with your external circumstances. A talent for figure skating won’t do you much good in a South Indian village; and a talent for fashion designing would be hard to leverage in one of the mountainous Bhutanese monasteries.

Intelligence, mental and physical health, and emotional resilience are some of the other advantages that are, at least to some extent, based on luck. Health problems, either mental or physical, can counteract the most profound social and financial advantages. And a stable, charming personality, combined with above-average intelligence, can help individuals overcome many external drawbacks. But these privileges and handicaps are hard to see, so we often don’t understand how to leverage or overcome them, as the case may be.

Some people are luckier than others, but we all have things working for us and against us. On the personal level, instead of bemoaning our lack of privilege, the trick is to objectively analyze the cards we have been dealt. And to then leverage what we have to get what we want.

Would my life have been easier if – all other things being equal – I’d been born in a richer family, a richer country, or even a richer neighborhood? I don’t think there’s anybody who doubts that. But since I don’t spend much time being grateful about the fact that I wasn’t born in a slum or a warzone, there isn’t much point spending that time wondering why I wasn’t born to a tech-billionaire in Silicon Valley.

Building a Better World

When dealing with discrimination on a societal level, however, the approach needs to be the opposite. We need to understand where and how systemic discrimination is being perpetuated, and speak up against it. Not just when we’re the victims of such discrimination, as is the case with Bollywood nepotism, but also when we’re the perpetrators of it.

Many private schools refuse to accept students without conducting an in-depth interview of the parents. I’ve seen people boasting about how their kids’ school grilled them as if they’re the ones seeking admission. Somehow, this is a mark of the ‘quality’ of the institution.

In reality, it’s just another form of nepotistic gatekeeping, keeping first generation learners away even when their parents can pay the school fee (which can be hard enough for many people).

Does a child not deserve quality education because his or her parents were illiterate or semi-literate, even if they’ve managed to scrape together enough money to pay for that education?

To many middle class Indians, the ‘pedigree’ of their child’s school is more important than the education of other, less privileged children. Those of us who have a problem with their kids studying side by side with the children of an illiterate (if prosperous) fishmonger, have no right to complain about the nepotistic practices of Bollywood producers.

It is easy to see discrimination when we’re the victims of it, much harder to notice it when we’re the perpetrators. Which is, in fact, quite often.

This is not an accusation I’m leveling at others, but rather a (disturbingly common) experience of my own. I never fail to notice it when a freelance client asks for my location before disclosing their rates, but it took me years to realize that schools conducting ‘parent interviews’ before granting admissions to students was effectively a ploy to keep first generation learners from poorer (or nouveau middle class) families away.

I have relatives and acquaintances who always complain when they fail to secure government jobs because of affirmative action programs (the much vilified ‘quota system’), but never take a moment to appreciate the fact that they have the resources to continue studying for the civil service exams year after year, while many others in their position have been forced to forget about their professional dreams and take up fulltime employment just to survive.

And I’d be lying if I said I’ve never felt that resentment myself.

I’m a brown woman living in a relatively poor country. I’m also middle class, able-bodied, and part of the linguistic and religious majority in the city where I live. I have advantages that many could only dream of.

But somehow, that first part is always easier to focus on than the last. Comfort is easy to get used to, pain is not.

On a personal level, we can afford to ignore nepotism and discrimination; bend the rules without breaking them to get what we want. You’d be better served filling out the application forms for government colleges than thinking about the fact that your family can’t afford to send you to a private one.

On a societal level, however, discrimination needs to be protested and reforms introduced, because we’re not the only ones being affected. Millions of people currently alive, and millions who will come after we are long gone, will live with the impact of the decisions we make today – whether it is to fight or to remain silent.

There will always be exceptions that the establishment points to. Some street urchins will overcome poverty, some women will break the glass ceiling, and some outside actors will achieve stardom in Bollywood. And on a personal level, it behooves us all to try and be that exception to the rule. 

However, while systemic discrimination may not be able to stop an exceptionally talented, determined, and lucky individual from achieving their goals, it does beggar the society wherein it occurs.

If a lot of children are left without access to quality education because their parents were illiterate, some of them will still grow up to succeed in their chosen field. However, the society as a whole will remain backward, as most of those kids will never reach their full potential, nor be able to contribute to national and global development as much as they could have.

A disproportionate amount of societal resources will be spent on a small group, many of whom might be incapable of making the most of them. While those who could have made the best use of those resources will never have access to them.

Many great movies will languish without a producer and many path-breaking discoveries will remain unmade because we couldn’t give our children a level field to play on.

And that truly is something to be outraged about.