Dear Richa Chadha, don't dilute nepotism debate to promote your boyfriend Ali Fazal

MUMBAI:  Actress Richa Chadha is enraged with a report about the duration of the presence of her actor-boyfriend Ali Fazal in the trailer of his upcoming Hollywood movie, Death On The Nile. She has dragged the nepotism debate into the issue.

Dear Richa, you are confused, and blind to the fact that the story was about Ali's footage in the trailer, and not about whether he is an outsider.

For those who came in late, the first trailer of the Hollywood film "Death On The Nile" was released on Wednesday, and it didn't reveal much about Ali's character with the actor making a ‘blink-and-miss' appearance. Richa holds a grudge against IANS because of the use of the term, and has mixed it up with an entirely different conversation about Bollywood outsiders and nepotism.

"Dear IANS, what's with the headline? Past 2 months you were crying that outsiders face discrimination. So how about the role of the media in discrediting their achievements? Shall I send over cutlery so you can eat your words after you watch the film?" Richa wrote on Thursday on Twitter.

First thing, Richa, we will talk of Ali's performance in the film when we watch it. Keep your cutlery, you might just need it. We have ours ready to feast on his performance any which way -- as an audience if the acting and role are good, and as critics if bad.

You may use your cutlery to eat your words too, because what we wrote seems to have gone over your head. You simply did not get the story. It is not about Ali's role in the film, it is about his footage in the trailer.

Get one thing right, Richa. The role of the media is not to encourage or discourage. It is simply to report facts as they stand. And as the facts stand, Ali Fazal has a blink-and-miss appearance (oops, we said it again) in the trailer of Death On The Nile. We have done plenty of stories on Ali's positives that you choose to ignore just as we celebrate genuine achievements of any Indian actor in Hollywood. A pat in the back is something that has to be earned.

The actress further tweeted: "I'd have blinked and missed their tweet, had they not harped on the ‘nepotism debate'. It's one thing to not be supportive, it's entirely another to be condescending. Jawab hai IANS? Kya hua outsiders ko support karna tha na? Bhool gaye?"

Yes, we did harp on the nepotism debate and will proudly continue to do so because it is an important conversation.

We would advise Richa not to dilute the nepotism debate by using it for the vested interest of forwarding her boyfriend's career.

By giving a nepotism twist to our story on Ali Fazal's presence in the trailer of his film can only be deemed a below-the-belt ploy at garnering some quick attention at the expense of IANS.

In her series of tweets, Richa has also pointed out one of our previous stories about veteran Dimple Kapadia and the trailer of Christopher Nolan's "Tenet", writing: "Here @IANS, subtly running down the magnificent achievement of our senior actress Dimple Kapadia. Are you obsessed with the phrase ‘blink and miss'? Is it a small feat to be cast by Chris Nolan, one of the biggest directors on the planet ? Does that happen everyday?"

Again, Richa, do not drag Ms Kapadia (or Randeep Hooda, as you have subsequently done) into this just for the sake of Ali Fazal's vested interest.

Maybe you missed the point that the story was about India and Mumbai taking centre stage, because it is not every day that an internationally renowned director like Chris Nolan comes to capture the beauty and essence of our country.

Since you clearly have some news to catch up on, we recommend you also read these IANS stories:

* Dimple Kapadia lands role in Christopher Nolan's film

* How Dimple Kapadia landed a Christopher Nolan film

Let's take up another example you have pulled out, about the trailer of "Extraction", saying: "If you're in the trailer, you're ‘blink and miss' like Dimple Kapadia, Ali Fazal. If you're not in it, you're a mystery! Please celebrate the achievements of Indian actors internationally. Walk the talk."

We guess you overlooked the mention: "In the film (Extraction), Pankaj Tripathi and Priyanshu Painyuli play the role of the biggest drug lords of India and Bangladesh".

We also suggest you read the IANS interview headlined: "Randeep Hooda: Feels great to break stereotypical barriers". The actor talks of breaking the ceiling and working in a Hollywood film in that report.

For the record, all these stories try to highlight Indian actors finding an important place in the narrative of a story from the West. But maybe these stories don't fit into your definition of ‘encouragement' because they don't feature Ali Fazal.