10 Ways Bollywood Movies Poisoned My Family’s Relationship With Money
How seeing too many Bollywood movies kept my family poor.
Do you believe in miracles?
I have a confession to make. I wrote on Substack last in July ‘23. Yes, I stopped writing here. I was frustrated that all the writing I was doing while stealing time from minding my toddler did not translate to subscriber growth.
I logged into Substack today & viola! I saw that a kind subscriber (God bless their heart) had pledged to support my work. The miracle of a kind gesture from a stranger many seas away has made me want to write here again.
Again, do you believe in miracles? Because I do.
Here is my fresh piece after 4 months of hiatus.
Image Sourced from old Bollywood posters — Bing images and collated in Home — Canva
I live in India, a land obsessed with its Bollywood movies. When I was growing up in the 80s & 90s, movies were a riot! They raked in the moolah by glamorizing poverty, ironically cashing in on the “good man = poor man, bad guy = rich guy” formula.
I was born into a long line of illustrious old (lack of) money. My entertainment-starved, living in genteel poverty parents learned from Bollywood movies. I suspect many others of their generation did too!
So here are 10 ways Bollywood poisoned my family’s relationship with money. You will relate even if you’ve never heard of Bollywood movies because terrible beliefs about money exist around the World.
Having money makes you a terrible person.
In Bollywood movies, the righteous poor man fights the evil rich dude for bleeding the poor. Bollywood movies taught my family to hate rich people. So much so that they remained poor because they didn’t want to be bad like rich people.
The truth is money is a tool that can be used for good or evil. The power lies with us tool-wielders.
The system is against the poor.
My family learned from the movies that the honest poor man is flogged annually with taxes by the system. Meanwhile, his employer laughs his way to the bank, dodging the tax net. Bollywood made it look like the system is needlessly against the poor.
The real reason the rich are taxed less is that they produce & employ for the economy. They provide so they receive in return.
Poverty is in your genes
The movies taught my family that hopelessness is a virtue. My family believed that poor people were victims of persecution, born disadvantaged. Buried in Bollywood’s twisted dramas was the message that our lives are ruled by fate not by our choices.
In the real world, the rich earn their wealth by making wealthy choices & backing them up with wealthy habits. Poverty is not destiny but a choice.
The class divide Bollywood movies couldn’t comprehend
Bollywood made poor guy-rich girl or poor girl-rich guy love stories. The movies taught us, poor girls, to dream about being rescued by rich Princes.
When I grew into my 20s, I realized I wasn’t pretty Cinderella. No rich Princes were throwing second glances my way. I would have to rescue myself & my family from a literal financial abyss. So, I believed in the class divide.
The class divide does exist but for a reason. It’s called a barrier to entry. The rich (and powerful) rule directly through policies they make & indirectly by funding policies. They want the status quo to lay ground rules for others.
This convoluted fact also means rules of society are not absolute truths. They can be questioned & bent to break the divide.
Ordinary mortals cannot break the class divide.
In Bollywood movies of the time, the poor man was the hero. He had magical fighting skills, brains & charm which he used to toil his way to wealth. This meant ordinary mortals like my family could not hope to break the class divide.
Real life is different. The divide is torn down all the time by people like me who have no looks, charm, or intellect. We also don’t do karate kicks but we do know how to use the Internet to make wealth. And that is our secret weapon.
What Bollywood didn’t reveal was the creator economy has always been a leveler. Artists, writers, solopreneurs & start-up founders have been breaking the class divide for a long time.
The rich steal money from the poor
A belief as old as time. The reality? Money has never been ‘owned’. It comes to us & through us. We don’t need to steal money because there is plenty to go around. The rich know this truth about money, so they are wealthy.
Have aspirations? “You’re evil!” said Bollywood movies!
Bollywood thrived on drama. Its movies were tearjerkers in which the nouveau rich son abandons his folks for wealth & glamor. My family got the message that aspirations make us evil.
In truth, aspirations move the economy. They are necessary, not evil.
Bollywood movies taught us to live in fear
In the movies, landing an office job was celebrated as a milestone by the poor. Which was disturbing considering the characters lived in terror of unemployment. An office job was their meal ticket.
In the real world when we make fear-driven decisions, we are never happy (or wealthy). When we take calculated risks, we are more likely to succeed.
There are no badass boss women in Bollywood
Bollywood loved & still loves its women. They wear gorgeous chiffon, have amazing hair & beautiful eyelashes. But they have no power. They perish without rich fathers or husbands. Bollywood has snatched power from women since the days.
Since I did not have a wealthy father, I believed I was powerless till I found Prince Charming. While waiting for him, I worked many soul-crushing jobs & became miserable. When I abandoned hopes of finding a Prince & started to build a one-person business instead, I realized I had the power all along.
Not all women are blessed with long eyelashes. But we can be badass at making money.
Bad girls (or boys) ask & receive
The poor people of Bollywood fame accepted their lot. They did not receive much from their employers. Their frustrations piled up so they took on the system with their fists.
But, why not just ask your worth? Negotiation is a life skill.
Bollywood today is more in tune with reality. It has moved on from its lies, but the generation that grew up watching it never will. A pity!
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