Bollywood has become a soft target, says Emraan Hashmi

Emraan Hashmi shared an interesting take on Bollywood, stating that the industry has been a victim of ‘skewed negative perception’ and that there has been an unfair portrayal perpetuated by individuals within the industry itself. The actor, who plays the role of a film producer in his upcoming project ‘Showtime’, stated that Bollywood was unfairly subjected to erroneous perceptions and baseless accusations in the past.

“There’s a perception, especially in the last three years, that has become very skewed towards an overtly negative perception. Everything wrong in society happens in Bollywood. Drugs, wild parties, promiscuity and everything. I don’t know where that suddenly came about in the last three years, but it amped up to another level,” Emraan told a leading media house.

He underscored that while every industry may have its share of misconduct, Bollywood seems to be disproportionately targeted.

“Bollywood has become more of a soft target. Wild perceptions are being put out there and even more so now on social media. That’s far from true. People just like to bash this industry,” he said.

Hashmi acknowledged the presence of numerous success stories among outsiders, challenging the notion that only ‘nepo kids’ thrive in the industry.

“There are more outsiders who have been successful than the ‘nepo kids’. It’s an industry where both worlds coexist. It’s a very secular industry where you have people from all walks of life, of all castes, ideologies and languages. They all come together for the sole purpose of entertaining the audience, which is beautiful. But sometimes people get the platform to talk about it and the spotlight on them gives them this bit of fame and that’s why they like to do it. There’s no other industry where they’ll critique it and get that level of fame for themselves. So, this industry is a soft target that way,” he added.

Directed by Mihir Desai and Archit Kumar, ‘Showtime’ also stars Rajeev Khandelwal, Mouni Roy, Naseeruddin Shah, Mahima Makwana and Shriya Saran.