Suhana Safar

Traditionally, those who made it to the Vogue cover were established supermodels, performers or  icons in the public space. But ever since that upper crust franchise made its way to India, the definition of popular cover girls/women has been appropriated by Bollywood actresses. Initially, there was consideration for something called a “body of work.” But over time, as marketing tie-ins with films increased and studios extended their brand counters, the “flavour of the season” has been decided by the industry than the voting public’s choices. In fact, newbies are being conferred with a cult status even before proving themselves. First there was Janhvi Kapoor, daughter of the late Sridevi Kapoor, the curiosity around her painful circumstance making that issue an awaited launch. Still she had completed her film, which has now crossed the Rs 100 crore mark. 

In light of that, what qualifies Suhana Khan to be featured on the cover, except her pedigreeij The cover bio is all too revealing — “student, theatre lover” (oh, aren’t NSD goers any less) and then the arrogant flourish of “future star.” The daughter of the man, who has been the poster child for making it big in Bollywood without any hand-holding by industry insiders, in fact, launched the current issue of the magazine and has ensured that you cannot comment on the cover or troll Suhana’s pictures in a blatant display of protectionism. Such favouritism set social media ablaze and users trolled the magazine, SRK and his daughter directly. Memes got rolling too. But are they really wrong in doing soij When Saif Ali Khan (whose daughter is to debut in the later half of the year) and Karan Johar (the well-meaning pater familias to star kids) joked about actor Kangana Ranaut’s statement on nepotism, did those middle-aged men not behave like trolls tooij Maybe Ranaut should now start a hashtag campaign #NepotismAlive. And SRK should look up Meryl Streep, whose struggling daughter has no qualms saying her mum did not do anything for her.