Sudhir Mishra on nepotism: Tell me what’s wrong with Alia Bhatt or Ranbir Kapoor

Nepotism is an ever-raging debate in the film industry, which is joined by newbies every year — some star kids, some unknown faces. What’s filmmaker Sudhir Mishra’s take on it? He agrees that it’s prevalent but feels that the journey of an actor is not defined by his or her first film, so one should concentrate on his or her individual effort.

“It’s okay that [star kids] are getting better launchpads, but that can’t stop outsiders from creating their base in the industry. Look at Rajkummar Rao, Ayushmann Khurrana, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Huma Qureshi or Deepika Padukone — all of them are not from the industry yet they’ve been doing so well. And this has been the way with things for long now,” he says.

Sudhir, who has made films such as Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996), Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin (1987), Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2003), and Daas Dev, gives importance to the skills of an actor and not one’s star value. “For me, the film’s story is of prime importance, rest [everything else] comes in later. Also, whoever has talent and is ready to work hard must get the opportunity to showcase their talent. Tell me what’s wrong with Alia Bhatt (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actor Soni Razdan’s daughter) or Ranbir Kapoor (actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor’s son). Both are terrific actors, so they should be getting to do good films,” he maintains.

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