National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajpayee has been quite vocal about the flaws of the industry . He has been speaking about the unethical ways of Bollywood and he himself has been at the receiving end of the system that’s obsessed with stars and their glamorous shenanigans. He has proved his mettle through his hard work and he has fought back all the negativity that came his way.

He is one of the finest actors we have seen in the industry. He is never bogged down by the idea of playing the smallest of the characters in a film because he believes in making an impact and not the length of the role. In the industry where the idea of being a star has been given importance, Manoj proved that talent can take you far. 

In a recent interview with Times Of India, he spoke about how Bollywood is obsessed with the star system and cited the example of exhibitors and distributors prioritizing stars over the content of a film.

Here are the three valid points that Manoj shared and they surely serve the purpose of being an eye-opener.

1. He spoke about how the system of Bollywood has damaged the quality of the content that should have been promoted because of its obsession with the starry status. He said, “As far as the star system is concerned, it has done more damage than good to the quality and content. Now the young stars are focusing again on the content.”  

2. He said how even exhibitors and distributors didn’t support the content. It’s no secret that movies with Salman Khan were given extra screens and movies that rode with content were completely ignored. Manoj said that his films too got a ‘step-motherly’ treatment. “When the exhibitors and distributors start concentrating on stars what happens is the quality films and small films start getting step-motherly treatment. My films have faced this,” added the actor. 

3. He also hopes that the star system shouldn’t get in the way of the upcoming talent that we are getting to see in the current times. He said, “Whether it is cinema viewing or OTT or TV, people will find their stars. They find their favourites and they become their star. How big those stars will be? Will they be big like the ones we have since COVID-19 came in? I don’t know. I just hope that the star system doesn’t become an obstruction to the new upcoming talents.”

We agree with all the points that Manoj has mentioned and things are changing for the better in the pandemic times when we are heavily relying on OTT platforms for our entertainment. With the advent of OTT, we have seen talented actors like Jitendra Kumar, Abhishek Banerjee, and many others ruling the space based on their skill set and not their starry status.

On an ending note, we would also like to add that let’s end this obsession with stars and their starry ways and stand up for talent and good content.

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