Vivek Agnihotri talks about 'dark alleys' of Bollywood, says 'you PR like a star, but you aren’t a star'

On Sunday, The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri took to Twitter and narrated ‘an inside story’ of Bollywood. Each and every word written by the filmmaker touched netizens’ hearts. In his long note, he said ‘the real Bollywood is found in its dark alleys.'

He wrote, “I have now spent enough years in Bollywood to understand how it works. What you see is not Bollywood. Real Bollywood is found in its dark alleys. Its underbelly is so dark that it’s impossible for a common man to fathom. Let’s understand it.”

Bollywood. An Inside Story. Pl. read. pic.twitter.com/e4WcBvJLLU

— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) August 21, 2022

He continued, “In these dark alleys, you can find shattered dreams, trampled dreams, buried dreams. If Bollywood is a museum of tale nt, then it’s also a talent. It’s not about rejection. Anyone who comes here, knows that rejection is the part of the deal. It’s humiliation and exploitation which shatters tender dreams, hopes, and belief in any kind of humanity.”

He further said, “One can survive without food but to live without respect, self-worth and hope is impossible. No middle-class youngster grows up ever imagining to be in that situation. It hits so hard that instead of putting up a fight, one gives up. Lucky are those who go back home. Who stays on, break apart. Those who find some success but not the real one, get into drugs, alcohol and all kind of life-damaging stuff. Now they need money.”

“So, they get introduced to all kinds of funny money. Some success is the most dangerous one. You are in showbiz without any income and power. You have to look like a star, party like a star. PR like a star but you aren’t a star. Imagine yourself in a gansta ghetto where you have to behave like a gangster without a gun or a knife. This is where you are open to all humiliation and exploitation. Instagram is not free. It demands money to shoot and look good, sound busy,” he said.

“This hollow race of validation brings you back to where you started from- the dark whole, which keeps getting deeper and deeper with each race. You show off, nobody sees. You scream, no one hears. You cry, no one cares. All you find is surrounded by people laughing at you. You busy your dreams. Quietly. But then you find people dancing on the grave of your dreams. Your failure become their celebration. You are a dead man walking. Irony is nobody can see you dead except for you. One day, you literally die. And then the world sees you,” he concluded.