Acting? Not for my baby

Romancing girls half their age is one thing, letting their teenage daughters be a young actress is another. In a world full of hypocrisy, NIKITA WADHAWAN ponders on Bollywood’s double standards

Bollywood loves to see actors romancing actress half their age but those same actors not comfortable when they realise that their darling daughter will soon be one of them. Recently in an interview, Sridevi spoke of her apprehensions regarding her daughter’s debut. She would rather have her daughter get married than be an actress, which created a quite a storm. Although she is not the only ones, we bring you some more Bollywood parents who are not very happy with their daughters joining the industry.

Saif Ali and Sara Ali Khan

In an interview with a daily the 46-year-old actor raised concerned about his daughter’s decision to start acting. “Why would she want that for herself? Look at where she studied. After having done that, why wouldn’t she want to live and work in New York, rather than do this?” Saif said. This statement did not go down too well with ex-wife Amrita Singh. Saif did later come out and clarify that he is “fully supportive” of his daughter Sara’s acting ambitions.

Sanjay and Trishala Dutt

Sanjay has always been very open about his reservations about his daughter joining Bollywood. He went as far as saying that he wanted to break Trishala’s leg when she expressed her desire to be an actress. “I’ve invested a lot of time and energy to put her in a good college and she has specialised in forensic science. Even if she wants to join the industry, she has to learn Hindi because American (English) will not work here. Trishala wanted to be an actress and I wanted to break her legs,” he said.

Akshay and Nitara Kumar

Akshay has always been very protective of his children. Even after Nitara was born, unlike Misha and Taimur, Nitara’s face was always hidden. The Khiladi star also made sure that his daughter’s picture is not seen in any of his Instagram post. It is only now that she has grown up that the actor is comfortable showing off his daughter. So, naturally the protective father does not want to dwell on the idea of his daughter becoming an actress.

Dharmendra and Esha Deol

Everybody knows that Dharmendra was not very thrilled about daughter Esha becoming an actress. He had even publically said that he was not very happy with his daughter wearing a bikini in Dhoom. Even though his wife Hema was an established Bollywood star when they got married, the actor never believed that Bollywood was a good profession for a woman.

Randhir and daughters Karisma and Kareena Kapoor

It is a known fact that Kapoor girls do not act. Every actress who has married to a Kapoor has had to leave the profession immediately. But Karisma under the guidance of mom Babita, started her acting career at the age of 15. A move that did not go down very well with the Kapoor Khandan, especially daddy Randhir. Even when Kareena started acting Randhir was not very happy. Apart from Karisma and Kareena there has been no Kapoor girl in the Industry.