Subhash Ghai slams Bollywood¡¯s ¡®WhatsApp scripts,¡¯ after Anurag Kashyap calls it ¡®toxic¡¯
Subhash Ghai says Bollywood has lost its passion, with scripts treated like fast food and actors more focused on branding than craft. He reveals why he stopped making films. Anurag Kashyap, too, recently called Bollywood a toxic industry. Are veteran filmmakers losing faith?
Another day, another decades-old filmmaker speaks about Bollywood. This time, it¡¯s Subhash Ghai, the director behind Khalnayak, Pardes, and Taal. The man who once ruled the box office now says he has no desire to make films anymore. Why? Because, according to him, Bollywood has lost its love for cinema.
Speaking on Game Changers, a YouTube channel, Ghai said he stopped making films because he no longer sees true passion for cinema¡ªnot in the industry, not even in his own team. He recalled approaching a writer with a story idea, only to be given a structured deadline and an upfront fee demand. Ghai was baffled, questioning if filmmaking had become as mechanical as cooking chapatis. He felt creativity had taken a backseat, replaced by a purely transactional approach.
The filmmaker also criticized the way scripts are handled today. He pointed out how dialogues and scripts are now exchanged over WhatsApp, removing the organic process of creative collaboration. According to him, skills are being purchased, and the heart behind filmmaking is missing.
Ghai further expressed disappointment in how actors today see themselves more as brands than artists. He attributed this to Bollywood¡¯s failure to produce true superstars in the last decade, stating that the industry continues to rely on 80s and 90s stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan, while very few new-age actors have reached their level.
But Ghai isn¡¯t the only filmmaker who spoke about this culture of the film industry. Earlier this month, Anurag Kashyap made even harsher statements about Bollywood, calling it a toxic industry where creativity is being strangled by an obsession with money. Kashyap revealed that he has permanently left Mumbai, saying that he wants to stay away from film people because the industry has become all about chasing the next ?500 or ?800 crore blockbuster. He believes the creative atmosphere in Bollywood is dead.
According to Kashyap, the city isn¡¯t just about its buildings but also its people and those people have made it impossible for genuine storytelling to survive. He pointed out that many filmmakers have already left Bollywood, moving to places like Dubai, Portugal, London, and Germany. These aren¡¯t struggling directors, but mainstream filmmakers who no longer see a future in the industry.
Kashyap also exposed the insane spending habits of Bollywood, where more money is wasted on vanity than on actual filmmaking. He described a scenario where a car was sent three hours away just to fetch a five-star burger for an actor shooting in the middle of a jungle. He said, ¡°You don¡¯t get into the process of it.¡± The filmmaking process, he said, has become secondary to profits and margins, where every project starts with the question: ¡°How do we sell it?¡±
With two respected filmmakers walking away from Bollywood for the same reasons, the question remains, has Hindi cinema truly lost its soul?
Nancy Jaiswal is a journalist who started her career in reporting and has covered both hard and soft news. From serious city news developments to lighthearted lifestyle pieces, she has written on almost everything hapenning in India (except maybe alien invasions¡ªyet!). For her, writing isn¡¯t just work; it¡¯s a passion, an obsession, and sometimes the reason she forgets to reply to texts.
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