Creative Freedom Is Reserved for the Powerful": Somy Ali Calls Out Bollywood's Selective Double Standards

Former actor, filmmaker, and founder of the non-profit organization No More Tears, Somy Ali, has issued a hard-hitting public statement calling out what she characterizes as systemic double standards within the Indian film industry. Directing her commentary toward filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, and film school students, Ali argued that cinema must maintain the integrity to examine uncomfortable societal truths without bending to selective censorship or protecting influential figures.

Highlighting the historic treatment of sensitive personal narratives, Ali referenced Mahesh Bhatt's 1982 film Arth, pointing out that late actress Parveen Babi’s struggle with paranoid schizophrenia was adapted for the screen without her legal or personal consent. She noted that while the cinematic exploration of a vulnerable woman's unconsented mental illness was widely defended as an exercise of artistic expression, powerful male figures in the industry are afforded complete narrative control over their public legacies.

To emphasize this contrast, Ali pointed to the biographical film centered on actor Sanjay Dutt, noting that his cinematic portrayal selectively omitted details at his own discretion. She remarked that while Dutt faced legal consequences and served his sentence for his criminal conviction, the film industry fully respected his right to withhold consent, demonstrating how narrative agency in Hindi cinema often depends directly on an individual's status and power.

Ali further questioned why projects attempting to cover or examine other high-profile legal matters—specifically cases where courts have already handed down formal convictions, such as the 1998 blackbuck poaching case—face intense pushback, industry avoidance, and institutional restrictions. She raised fundamental questions about the consistency of judicial and social accountability when wealthy and influential figures remain out on bail while films about their actions are treated as dangerous or off-limits.

Drawing upon her academic background across three film institutions, Ali warned that the prevailing culture of selective outrage and unofficial compliance teaches a damaging lesson to the upcoming generation of storytellers. She expressed concern that aspiring writers, directors, and performers are being conditioned to accept a ecosystem where creative boundaries are dictated by wealth, stardom, and legal protection rather than artistic truth.

Criticizing the film fraternity's widespread silence on delicate topics, Ali urged film students and young industry professionals to resist working within unequal parameters. She concluded by stating that history will judge whether Indian cinema possesses the institutional courage to confront difficult realities equally or if creative freedom will remain a transactional privilege reserved exclusively for those who can afford protection.