February 19, 2017 changed Karan Johar’s world when ‘Queen’ Kangana Ranaut tagged him as the flagbearer of nepotism on his chat show ‘Koffee With Karan’.
The word haunts the filmmaker till date and he refrained from even hearing that word again, but then he has just launched two star kids in ‘Dhadak’.
Years back, in 2012, KJo also gave a platform to David Dhawan’s son Varun Dhawan and Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter Alia Bhatt as he casted them in ‘Student Of The Year’, which was a surprise hit at that time.Today Alia Bhatt might be known for the kind of roles which she picks, but still, the actress agrees that nepotism exists in the industry and there’s no need to defend the nepotism.
She explained, “Of late, I have realised that there is no need to defend the nepotistic nature of the industry because it does exist. The reason why it has become an emotional debate is because it is difficult for those who don’t get a chance. If I was on the other side, I would be heartbroken. I may have felt the same way. Yes, it does exist everywhere, but this is the only business where there’s no fixed funda. You need to be at the right place at the right time.”
Alia further mentioned, “For instance, if you want to be a doctor, you study, give your examination and get a job. In film business, you can do whatever you want, but there has to be that X factor that people talk about. There are so many people who come from nowhere and make it big purely on the basis of their presence and what they bring to the screen. An XYZ person can be very good looking and some other can be marginally good looking, but the latter can be a bigger star or loved more because of their talent. There are no hard and fast rules as such, so I totally get the emotional upheaval. As far as I am concerned, I won’t even say that I was more prepared because I was so and so’s daughter. I just got very lucky with my first try (‘Student Of The Year’), but you can only get lucky with that first chance. After that only bhagwaan bachaye.”
