There are many more waiting in the sidelines to make a mark, armed with support of their doting parents, uncles and aunts. In the last couple of weeks itself, I have read interviews of Sonakshi, Alia and Sonam alongside their dads taking immense pride in the success of their daughters. Taking a cue perhaps, there was also an interview of Deepika Padukone with her dad Prakash Padukone who everybody knows was India’s first world class badminton player.

The next filmi son to be launched is Tiger Shroff, with papa Jackie Shroff keeping a close tab. Some Bollywood A-listers, who are obviously Jackie’s friends, have declared junior Shroff has the makings of a star. Some have said he is already a star that the world will find out about soon.

Similar proclamations were made for other star sons and daughters earlier, many of whom have gone on to do well for themselves while others have faded away. Some present day superstars, top film directors have also found their first footholds in Bollywood courtesy their kin. They have made the best of initial breaks and platforms to sustain careers, which is not easy at all.

The names include Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Kareena Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar, and Aditya Chopra, among others. Some end up marrying like Kajol-Devgn.

More recently Chopra-Rani tied the knot, underlining that paparazzi and gossip columns are not wrong all the time. Sometimes they do get it right. Rumors about Chopra-Rani link up have been floating for years. Going back further, greats of Hindi cinema such as Shashi Kapoor or Shammi Kapoor too boasted a rich Bollywood lineage.

Like films, multiple generations have found their calling in politics such as Gandhi-Nehru, Gowda, Scindia, Pilot, Pawar, Abdullah, Yadav (Lalu and Mulayam in Bihar and U.P.), Karunanidhi, Patnaik, Badal and many more.

Unfortunately, unlike in films, many of our political leaders have misused their exalted positions to build personal business or real estate empires by short changing the people of the country, flouting rules and playing around with tax payers money.

Contacts, networks, advise, exposure, training obviously goes some way in creating Bollywood or political success stories. Yet, in both films and politics, there are those who have made it via perseverance, hard work, talent and luck.

Admittedly, the path is more difficult, crowded and competitive. The success stories include Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Aishwarya Rai, Vidya Balan, Anushka Sharma, Sushmita Sen and lately “Queen” Kangana Ranaut and even “Baby Doll” Sunny Leone, an ideal candidate for Ekta Kapoor genre of sexed up movies. Earlier stalwart’s who made it due to mix of luck, hard work and talent, include Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Dharamendra etc.

However, I do have issues with sycophants, crony capitalists, criminals, practitioners of identity politics and opportunists in our midst. Such individuals, as we know, have proliferated in Indian politics to the detriment of our country. In this context, it is important for the system to offer fair and equitable opportunities to weed out the unwanted.

Good sound education, for example, is one crucial tool for progress. Cricket, though, is a different ball game. I am unable to spot any member of the cricket team, present or recent past, who made it due to family – not Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar.

But, then the real sharks of Indian cricket are not found amongst the players who have to perform or perish. The big fight is to control cash-rich BCCI. Industrialists, bureaucrats, politicians, film stars and lately fixers and bookies constantly slug it out to access the money and perks of cash cow BCCI. Here, the game is not played fairly at all.