MY DAUGHTER AUDITIONED WITH 1000 GIRLS: CHUNKY
Actor Chunky Panday defends daughter Ananya in the nepotism debate; says he, too, faced unfair remarks when he debuted
The nepotism debate in Bollywood won’t die down anytime soon, it seems. Ever since filmmaker Karan Johar announced that actor Chunky Panday’s daughter, Ananya, would make her debut in his production, Student of the Year 2 (SOTY 2), trolls haven’t spared him, and have been calling him the ‘flag bearer of nepotism’, yet again.
However, Chunky isn’t bothered. Rather, he feels sad for people making these comments. “Most of the times, they don’t even know what they are talking about. My daughter has auditioned along with 1,000 girls for SOTY 2. She actually went through the process and got it,” he says, adding, “You can’t imagine the number of people who were trying for the role and who couldn’t make it. I know Ananya is very confident, but when she bagged this film, it was a surprise for us as well.”
Talking about the time when he entered films, Chunky recalls that even then there were people who would say such things, but it is only now that people have given it a name — nepotism.
“I remember when I had gotten into the industry, my parents were very friendly with (actor) Rekhaji. And when I got my first film (Aag Hi Aag, 1987), people said, ‘Rekha must have helped him get this film.’ It was produced by Pahlaj Nihalani and he didn’t even know Rekhaji socially. Then, I remember someone saying, ‘Arey iske baap ne toh paise diye honge picture banane ke liye’. So, people have always said such things,” laughs Chunky, adding that now “people are more vocal because of social media.”
The actor says that star kids are under constant pressure to prove themselves because their parents have made a mark.
“When a star kid is going out to make it big, there’s great pressure. When I joined, I had no pressure. When my first film released, I didn’t know what stardom was and it was something new to me. But these kids have seen stardom through their parents and their parents’ friends. So, they want it more than we did when we were in films,” he adds.
Does he have any advice for Ananya? “These things are going to happen and she has to learn to deal with it. She is on social media and people are going to talk. So, until you enter the film industry, you don’t know how it works,” Chunky says.
Proud that Ananya is carving her own niche, he adds, “She has achieved something her father has not. Her father never had the chance to work with Karan Johar’s banner.”