Actor Kay Kay Menon believes the Hindi film industry can produce better cinema only when it grows out of the culture of preferring star kids over outsiders.
Time and again, many actors and directors from non-film background have spoken about Bollywood's bias towards artists belonging to stars' families. "We have dynasty as a part of our culture. From politics to cinema, there is a dynasty culture, unlike sports, which has a perfect yardstick. Nobody's son can become a star unless and until you perform in the field. In cinema, everybody's sons, daughters, nephews, nieces have the first right on films. That's a part of our culture. We are yet to come out of it. The moment we do, we will have better cinema.''
The actor, known for his powerpacked performances in films like "Haider", "Shahid", "Black Friday" and "Sarkar", is also of the view that the Rs 100 crore club, sought after by every producer, is just a facade and nowhere a testament to quality cinema. "It's a marketing gimmick. It has been inculcated in the audience's mind that '100 crore' means something. It just means money and nothing else, it doesn't mean good cinema. It doesn't make any sense. I always say that if I find a 100 crore club, I'll go and play tennis there."
Menon thinks real success of a film lies in its recall value and said, "Among my 80-odd films, there are 13-14 (films) which are memorable. I think the percentage (of my good films) is 10, which is not bad. I know these films can be on the shelf even after I die, they have hot posterity. I have always believed films should be beyond the weekend. You can't make cinema that way and if you are making, it is not cinema, it is some packaging."
Bollywood may have been backing story-oriented films lately, but Menon says there is still a long way to go before lines between commercial and realistic cinema get blurred. "The industry always threatens to do this but it never happens. I am quite sceptic in that sense. Even during the Naseeruddin Shah era, we had the parallel cinema which we thought will take over. Nothing happened. It's a good feeling of hope.''