Bollywood’s 'High' Stakes

Swapnil Bharali | September 13, 2020 12:24 hrs

VIP security has always held a fascination for me. The very fact that one is so important as to compromise with his or her privacy fearing for life and so, to be surrounded by a posse of armed personnel in uniforms constantly on the alert, is an intriguing notion. 

However, I had never given the security categories much thought – be they SPG, Z+ or Z until Y+ category security for Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut hit the headlines. It seems security categories start from X itself and with Y+ security, Ranaut seems to be a high-value target today in a proxy war that is being waged in Bollywood’s battlegrounds with sleaze and drugs as the basic contentious issues. The stakes are ‘high’ apparently. 

What started off with the tragic “death by suicide” of a promising actor who already had his own magnum opus early in his career with his MS Dhoni role, Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has opened the proverbial Pandora’s Box with its lid seemingly gone missing. A deplorable state of affairs, if you ask me! Some elements of Bollywood - mainly Ranaut - have shown their feisty dispositions. She is otherwise known to have rubbed many of the Bollywood biggies wrong in the past with her provocative statements; such rousing of controversies have helped in her career growth undoubtedly. 

But not showing respect to the dead and using the tragedy to run personal agenda is indicative of the nose dive that human values have taken in Bollywood making the high stakes all the more obvious. It is clear today that the investigation into the death of Rajput was a slip-shod affair by Mumbai Police and was more to cover up bigger crimes such that the CBI had to be tasked with the same. 

Given such developments and thereafter listening to all in the grapevine which the ‘nation badly wants to know,’ one can just imagine the reputations that might bite the dust. 

Also, the deafening silence and lack of response of all the Bollywood biggies to Ranaut’s “Mumbai is like Pakistan Occupied Kashmir” provocation adds much speculation at how much truly reputable and respect-worthy our film industry and the stars that we hero-worship continue to remain. 

On top of all this, the Shiv Sena led Maharashtra government has only shown utter immaturity, childishness in fact, in its reactions to Ranaut’s taunts and provocations when it could have basically laid low and given a deaf ear to her. ‘High’ stakes there too? RIP human values!

• Guwahati
• Bollywood
• Kangana Ranaut
• Bollywood actress
• VIP security
• SPG
• Z+
• Z
• Y+ category security
• India