After catastrophic year, Bollywood hopes for a 2021 comeback

The dancers stopped strutting on Bollywood film sets this year as the Indian film industry struggled to find any spring in its step during a disastrous 2020.

The annus horribilis for the world's most prolific movie industry began with the heartbreaking deaths in April within 36 hours of luminaries Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor.

Others to pass away included composer Wajid Khan, who died from the coronavirus at 42, director Basu Chatterjee, Bollywood's first female choreographer Saroj Khan, and S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, singer of an estimated 40,000 film songs.

But it was the suicide in June of 34-year-old star Sushant Singh Rajput that had the widest repercussions.
India's sensationalist TV news channels - eager to cast the film industry as a den of iniquity - accused Rajput's former girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, of driving him to his death with black magic and cannabis.

The 28-year-old, who denies any wrongdoing, spent months in custody for allegedly buying drugs for Rajput, while stars such as Deepika Padukone were hauled in for questioning as the investigation escalated.

"It has been a terrible year," actress Swara Bhasker told AFP.

"The slander campaign by some sections of the media against the film industry has been horrendous."

Virus restrictions meanwhile forced producers to hit pause on shootings, putting thousands of livelihoods at risk in Hindi-language Bollywood as well as India's other regional film industries.

From "spot boys" running errands on set to "junior artistes" eking out a living as extras, the sector relies on a huge army of low-paid workers.

"The loss of employment and income has been devastating for so many," Bhasker said.

Productions have tentatively resumed,...

Continue reading on: