Abstract: This paper examines how access to work in Bollywood is shaped less by formal routes and more by the everyday social ties through which the industry operates. Drawing on interviews with artists and aspiring entrants, it shows that decisions about collaboration or hiring often hinge on familiarity, personal credibility, and older networks of trust that have developed over time. Training institutions and technical fields can open limited doors, but movement into visible creative positions—particularly acting, directing, and producing—remains closely dependent on one’s place within established circles. These dynamics make opportunities uneven and often difficult to navigate for those without such connections, even when they possess the necessary skills or credentials. By tracing these patterns, the paper argues that Bollywood’s labour market reproduces structural inequalities through its reliance on informal norms and unequal distributions of social capital.
Speaker Bio-sketch: Dr. Akhil Alha is an Assistant Professor at the Council for Social Development, New Delhi, where he works at the intersection of social inequality, labour markets, and the political economy of development. His research spans agrarian change, informal labour, discrimination in contemporary labour markets, and the evolving relationship between caste, entrepreneurship, and public policy. He has led and co-led several major research projects funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, ICSSR, and KfW Development Bank, including national evaluations of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and studies on gig work, portability of social protection, and Dalit entrepreneurship. His work has appeared in Economic and Political Weekly, Social Change, Man & Development, and The Indian Economic Journal. He also teaches research methodology, field methods, and data analysis, and has delivered invited lectures at a number of universities and research institutes across India.