RGR

Frankly, judged purely on acting merit, I never found Amitabh Bachchan superior to his contemporaries. Rajesh Khanna, Sanjeev Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha, and even Dharmendra often outshone him in ensemble films. Yet Bachchan's privileged literary, political, and social background, combined with an extraordinarily successful star-making narrative, helped elevate him into an almost unquestionable institution. Same goes for SRK, Salman, etc. That is India's larger irony. A society fed decades of socialist and communist rhetoric about equality and merit remains deeply deferential to pedigree, inherited influence, wealth, and patronage. We manufacture superstars, godmen, and political dynasties, then confuse manufactured reverence with demonstrated merit. What we practice is neither genuine meritocracy nor socialism, but crony capitalism dressed in ideological morality. The masses are intoxicated with grand narratives while entrenched networks preserve their privileges. The contradiction extends to geopolitics. Russia, historically a steadfast friend, and the US, one of our largest trading partners, are judged through selective ideological loyalties rather than consistent national interest. Cronyism thrives when society worships personalities over performance, pedigree over merit, and ideology over evidence.