Renowned chef turned filmmaker Vikas Khanna, who had recently joined the list of celebrities to expose the culture of nepotism and favouritism in Bollywood, has once again expressed his anguish against the movie mafia in the Bollywood by pointing out how ‘movie critics’ in the industry have been demanding a ransom to give higher ratings for his movie – ‘The Last Colour’
The Michelin Star chef and recently turned filmmaker Vikas Khanna, took to Twitter to highlight the prevailing ‘review scandal’ in the movie industry and stated that critics had asked him to pay 3 lacs for 3 star-rating and 4 lacks for 4 star-rating to rate his movie. Khanna put out his dismay by saying that he would not forget the communication he received until his death.
Just a few days earlier, the celebrity chef had tweeted about the bad experience he had to face at the hands of some powerful industry insiders and the film critics. Vikas Khanna had expressed that he had ‘experienced favouritism and nepotism first hand’ after one of the critics had asked him to pay the money to review his movie and threatened to destroy him if he did not agree to it.
‘Minions won’t let outsiders enter’: Vikas Khanna alleges of being told to pay for good reviews
In a strongly worded Tweet, Vikas Khanna wrote that hearing about nepotism from national award-winning actress Kangana Ranaut, used to ‘break’ his heart. However, now he has experienced it first hand. “Minions won’t let outsiders enter even if they put their heart & soul in craft. It’s painful to hear ‘Pay or we’ll destroy you”, Khanna had tweeted.
It is pertinent to recall that Kangana Ranaut was one of the first actors to speak against the movie mafia and the prevalent nepotism in Bollywood. The untimely demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput last year gave momentum to the movement leading to be more people being vocal about the menace of the nepotism and mafia culture in the Bollywood.
Prior to the above Tweet, Vikas Khanna had said that people often condemned favouritism and nepotism, but did not give an opportunity to the self-made. He added that people admired the ‘gatekeepers’ but were ‘unkind’ to the new. Sharing the poster of his directorial debut with Neena Gupta starrer ‘The Last Color‘, Khanna claimed that the “‘New’ can’t flourish without encouragement & love. When ‘new’ rises, it makes way for “more new”, for all of us.”
The Michelin Star chef was particularly miffed by the treatment meted out at him by the so-called film fraternity biggies. He alleged that many had asked him for money and when he did not oblige, they gave his movie a 2-star rating to ‘destroy’ him. Sharing some positive reviews from critics, he urged everyone to watch the movie on Amazon Prime.
Vikas Khanna, one of the world’s prominent chef, had made his directorial debut with Neena Gupta-starrer The Last Color, which had released in January 2019. The movie, which is a screen adaption of Chef Vikas Khanna’s novel also by the same name, has been felicitated at numerous international film festivals.
The movie also made it to the Oscar 2020 and was a part of the Oscars shortlist. In light of the same, Vikas Khanna was looking forward to the reviews that film critics had to offer. However, the new filmmaker is not particularly happy with what the industry had to offer to his debut project.