There is a rumour doing the rounds in Bollywood these days. That Shah Rukh Khan's son has already been signed for a film to be produced and directed by hotshot director Sooraj Barjatya in 2020 AD. The exaggeration notwithstanding, it is pretty predictable that one day Khan junior will become a movie star. One might even add that he will be launched in a designer-made movie made to highlight his talent, whatever it is. He will have his face splashed in all the film trade magazines. And he will interviewed by Sunil Sethi in Star TV's Limelight.
For now, it has been conclusively established by the Geneva-based International Institute of Genealogy (IIG) that every Mumbai star progeny is as talented as his father/mother. And that he/she has the makings of a bigger star than his parents. Take Refugee, for instance. It was proven much before the film's release that Abhishek Bachchan was as good as his illustrous father, if not better. Scriptwriters, directors, producers, distributors -- all were unanimous that he is the star of the future who will finally rescue the sagging Mumbai film industry. Too bad the audience didn't agree. It is about time the stars created their own audience for their sons.
It was back in seventies (beginning with Rishi Kapoor's Bobby) that the Global Fascist Actor Association (GFAA) made it mandatory that an actor's son has no other option but to be an actor himself. Which is why Suneil Anand had to become a hero in his father Dev Anand's film, Anand aur Anand. If looks were the criteria, Suneil would have struggled to be a successful pao-bhaji seller in Chowpatty. If talent formed any basis, he wouldn't have been allowed to stand in front of a camera. But the poor guy had no option. He had to abide by the GFAA ruling.
It was this crazy rule that forced many others to try their luck. Some of them even succeeded to some degree. Kumar Guarav, who often looked prettier than his heroines, evoked one such season of madness among pre-pubescent teenagers in the early Eighties. But even the best of banners couldn't rescue his career.
Abhishek's case needs to be seen in this perspective. So what if he cannot dance to save his life? So what if looks as gawky as a hedgehog making love in many of the scenes? And so what if Refugee has collapsed at the box office? It is difficult to find a single soul in the Mumbai film industry who will speak a word against him. They would all like you to believe that it is almost a fait accompli that the younger B is destined to be one of the great new superstars of the new millennium. Abhishek's case is not alone.
Even after delivering a colossal box-office turkey in Prem Agan, Feroz Khan's son Fardeen got a second chance in Jungle. And Anil Kapoor's brother Sanjay has made it his birthright to make a pauper out film producers.
The bottomline is simple. Bollywood has ceased to be a democratic world where you needed nothing more than talent, persistence and luck to succeed. All you need now is the right pedigree. Once upon a time, stars were created by public choice. Today stars are manufactured by their parents. So it doesn't matter whether Refugee flops or not. It doesn't matter whether Abhishek's next film, Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya, succeeds or not. India's most famous television anchor's son still over half a dozen films to fall back on. Only the audience is the real refugee.

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