‘I HAVE NEVER DONE A BIG BANNER FILM’

Many actors have spoken on the insider vs outsider debate in Bollywood, but most have maintained that nothing beats talent. Actor Shreyas Talpade, too, says while the insider-outsider divide exists in the film industry, talent surpasses all.

“Nepotism and favouritism are here to stay. But we can’t just focus on that while moving ahead. At least I don’t want to. I’ve never done a Karan Johar or a Yash Raj film, I’ve never approached them, nor have they showed interest in working with me. But that doesn’t make me any less an actor. It also doesn’t mean the end of my career,” the actor says. The 44-year-old is instead happy that he could fulfil his dream of working with people he admires, such as actors Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah, Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh Khan, and filmmakers Farah Khan and Rohit Shetty.

“Now I want to work with Aamir Khan and Salman Khan, too. But I’ll only do so where I’m equally respected because I deserve that for the hard work I’ve been putting in,” he asserts. Given that Talpade has come this far in the industry without hailing from a film family or having any connections, he considers himself a proud outsider.

“My days of struggle when I didn’t have money to pay rent, buy a sandwich or take a bus to the studio, made me even stronger. Industry kids would never know how it feels to do everything on your own. Let them have their privileges. I feel sorry they don’t have a beautiful journey like we do,” he opines.