Kunal feels audience cares about merit, not legacy

Being from the industry can only take you so far. Eventually, audience is only interested in what you bring to the screen, not whose son, daughter or relative you are,” says actor Kunal Kapoor, 42, talking about the nepotism debate that has engulfed Bollywood.

The actor, who debuted with Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2005), feels that one only has to look at their surroundings to realise that people “are not as interested in legacy as they are with merit”. “Almost all billiondollar tech companies have been created by people who didn’t come from big corporate families... You see it in our politics, too. And you definitely see it in movie industry,” he says, adding that it is unfair to single out a particular industry.

The Rang De Basanti (2007) actor feels that with OTT platforms, “audiences are exposed to so much content from across the world, which is why you have to push the envelope to grab their attention”. He adds that filmmakers are now looking “inwards” and “are finally telling stories true to us”. This thought reflects in his debut film as well which was directed by the late art legend MF Hussain. “It was a very unconventional movie to debut with. Hussain sir was truly special... Very few people have a mind like his, and make the sort of impact that he did. He was curious, enthusiastic, spontaneous and a creative force. The life lessons I learnt from him will stay with me forever,” recalls Kapoor.