Bollywood is in the eye of a storm.The industry that did yeoman service for the masses by entertaining them has suddenly become a cesspool, a term Big B used for politics. Nevertheless, Bollywood has been providing three hours of power-packed action, fantasy, joy and  romance — all for the price of peanuts. It made people laugh, cry, filled them with rage, and made them partake in the world of make-believe. It aroused and awakened too, at times. All that has been pushed to the backburner. But before blaming Bollywood for all that is bad in the society we need to pause and ponder. In more than a century of its history, the Mumbai film industry has served the society in a way few industries have done. It has researched like no institution could do, it has taught like no teacher would have done. It de-stressed the masses, at a price that the common man could afford. It provided an outlet for the pent up feelings of the people, made them rejoice and giggle, filled them with ecstasy, made them forget their sorrows casting a magical spell. There was a salutary hangover too. People would talk and discuss even after they had seen the film. No mean service to a huge majority that was starved for pleasure and joy. It advocated the right lessons too. That it’s the good that triumphs over the evil in the end. Or as you sow so you reap. All of a sudden, everything is being painted black. So black that it reeks of a design. Reasons are not far to seek. Francis Bacon once said that if you go deep into any problem you will find people. Only, replace people with politics. Man, after all, is a political animal. So if you go deep into a problem, you will find politics. Dirty politics. Forget those blame games. Forget those ideas of cronyism and syndicate, lobbies and pressure groups. They are everywhere. Even in the noblest of institutions. We must go back to the basics. And that reminds of the class four English language idiom — A bad workman blames his tools. There is a hindi equivalent, too, and in Bollywood lingo: “If you don’t know how to dance, you find fault with the dancing floor”. Films and the film world are of a different genre and for a different purpose. To be objective, films don’t create society, they reflect society. And on this count they are more real than many  news channels which pollute the society more than the films. Films are market driven and showcase the society. There is no formula for a hit film nor a lobby. It is the film goer who decides and he is highly erratic. Interestingly, he himself doesn’t know why. Same happens in the case of  film stars. Or else meagre budget and no star film like Jai Santoshi Maa would not have been a bigger hit than the mega budget multi-starrer Sholay in the same year. Coming to stars making it big, examples galore prove that it’s God given merit and not Godfather. From Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Rajkumar to Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and the like prove that it is only merit. And failure of star sons confirms this. One last take. And a crucial one. While many news channels try selling lies as truth, films are doing it the other way round. Bollywood must stand and the show must go on.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com