Aryan Khan to Prakash Jha: It’s lonely and quiet in mainstream Bollywood

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khans son Aryans bail in a drugs case has ended more than three weeks of tension for the family that has been the focus of relentless public scrutiny and also searching questions on power structures in the showbiz industry.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan's bail in a drugs case has ended more than three weeks of tension for the family that has been the focus of relentless public scrutiny and also searching questions on power structures in the showbiz industry. The show must go on… but at what cost? As 23-year-old Aryan waited to leave jail after his bail on Thursday, that was the question many were asking. It was not just about Shah Rukh Khan. Some of the industry's most respected, including Prakash Jha and Aamir Khan, also waged lonely pushbacks against attacks legal, verbal, and physical, this month -- the deafening silence of mainstream Bollywood adding to the high-decibel criticism from a vocal section online and elsewhere. For much of October, all eyes have been on Shah Rukh Khan -- suddenly more a parent and less a superstar -- whose son was nabbed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 3 in a case of banned drugs being seized aboard a cruise ship. He was sent to jail on October 8 and had approached the Bombay High Court after the trial court refused bail. In the days that followed his arrest, actor Ananya Pandey was also questioned. Some industry personalities, including actors Simi Garewal and R Madhavan, welcomed the bail for 23-year-old Aryan. Since the arrest, Shah Rukh Khan received support from his fans and some colleagues but most big players were quiet. Garewal described news of Aryan's bail as overwhelming and his custody a ''cruel vendetta''.''#AryaanKhan @iamsrk No words. Only tears of relief...'' For many insiders, the episode was an unhappy replay of October a year ago when actor Rhea Chakraborty was released on bail after 28 days in jail in a drugs case related to the death of Sushan Singh Rajput and Bollywood struggled to fight off the taint of being a hub of drugs and other vices. ''I'm very happy that Aryan Khan has gotten bail but also very upset with a system that kept a young man behind bars for more than 25 days for something he never did. That has to change,'' filmmaker Sanjay Gupta tweeted. Three days ago, he had said Shah Rukh Khan has and continues to give jobs and livelihoods to thousands, and has always stood up for every cause in the film industry. “… the silence of the same film industry in his moment of crisis is nothing short of shameful,” filmmaker Sanjay Gupta said on Twitter. ''Today it is his son. Tomorrow it might be mine or yours. Will all of you still say silent heartlessly?'' Away from the high octane publicity surrounding the son of one of Hindi cinema's most successful stars, others have been under attack recently for reasons as varied as an OTT show on con godmen and an advertisement for tires appealing for crackers free Diwali. Jha, the director of films such as “Raajneeti”, had ink thrown on him by Bajrang Dal activists who also ransacked the sets of his show “Aashram” on grounds that it portrayed Hindus in the wrong light. And Aamir Khan, one of the troika of powerful Khans along with Shah Rukh and Salman, was under attack for the Ceat tire ad with BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde asking the company to also address the problem of roads being blocked in the name of ‘namaz’ and noise from mosques during ‘azan’.

Several film personalities, including directors, actors, and musicians when contacted by PTI declined to comment on the record on the larger issues facing Bollywood.

However, filmmakers Hansal Mehta, Sudhir Mishra, Ashwini Chaudhary, and producer Pritish Nandy, among the handful to unhesitatingly air their views, did speak. Mehta, for instance, questioned Bollywood's ''scared silence'' in a tweet and wrote that its continued ''deference'' will only empower such ''hooligans and further such oppression.'' ''But who will bell the cat?'' the ''Scam 1992'' maker pointed out earlier this week.

Mehta, much like Jha, was at the receiving end of attacks in 2000 when his film ''Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar'' about Mumbai's migrant workers reportedly irked members of Shiv Sena who ransacked his office and blackened his face.

Interestingly, in 2016, Jha had called out filmmaker Karan Johar for his remarks on growing intolerance in the country and had said there was ''no situation like that in the country'' and it existed only in Johar's ''mind''.

''Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na'' helmer Abbas Tyrewala captured the current mood in his viral Facebook post titled ''They are coming for you''.

''You think you're on their side? Wait till you do something they think is wrong. Make a show. Make an ad. Sing a song. Wear clothes. Meet a friend. Fall in love. Eat something. Drink something. Smoke something. Pray. Don't pray. Say something. Don't say something. Ask anything. Believe anything. Other than what has been 'sanctioned'.

''You may not be next. Not yet. But unless you're 'in' the mob, your turn and your family's turn and your children's turn are inevitable. There is only one 'them'. And it's all of us,'' Tyrewala concluded.

Shah Rukh and Aamir were among the first to comment on growing intolerance'' in the country in 2015, which led to theatres running SRK's film ''Dilwale'' being vandalized. Both the stars were also mercilessly trolled on social media, with calls of a boycott of their prospective projects made online.

Shah Rukh Khan and his family have maintained a low profile in the weeks since Aryan's arrest, the star being seen only once when he went to meet his son at Arthur Road prison. They kept up the quiet on Thursday too, except for Pooja Dadlani, SRK's manager, saying on Instagram, ''There is God. Thank you everyone for your love and prayers. Truth prevails.'' In this latest period of crisis, he has found support from friends such as Hrithik Roshan who penned a note for Aryan, and from Salman who hasn’t spoken in public but has visited SRK’s home Mannat. Bollywood is not new either to vandalism or NCB attention.

In 2017, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted while his ''Padmavat'' set was destroyed by members of Karni Sena. The group had also threatened to behead the film's lead star Deepika Padukone.

Rajput's death (the actor was found dead in his apartment in June last year), triggered a political maelstrom against Bollywood. Premier government agencies, including the CBI, ED andNCB joined the investigation.

Though NCB's ax fell on Chakraborty, it also expanded its probe into alleged drug abuse in the film industry and questioned several Bollywood personalities, including actors Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh.

At the peak of the vicious social media negativity and following BJP's Lok Sabha MP and Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan's comments that there was a problem of drug addiction in the film industry, Rajya Sabha MP and actor Jaya Bachchan hit out at those tarnishing Bollywood's image.

''It is a shame. Jis thali mein khate hai Usme chhed karte hai. Galat Baat hai,'' she had said in her Rajya Sabha speech last September. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)