Exclusive: Aaman Devgan and Rasha Thadani on nepotism

Ajay Devgn’s nephew and Raveena Tandon’s daughter made their Bollywood debut with Abhishek Kapur’s Azaad and the star kids are receiving praises for their performance. During an interview with Filmfare’s Editor-in-chief Jitesh Pillai, for the show In the Ring with Filmfare, they opened up about the ongoing debate around nepotism.

Sharing his views, Aaman said, “This debate has been going on since ages but how I view it or try to think of it is – we are born in an environment where we have seen films since the age of one or two. We see a camera, we see shoots happening and, in the process, it’s not you falling in love with films- it is a child falling in love with films. It’s the innocence of the love of a child for a certain industry and when you grow up, you are like, ‘oh it is nepotism, do I not deserve to be here?’. And I agree that the opportunity comes easier. There is no denying that, but I feel like you cannot underestimate talent ever and you cannot underestimate the audience’s perception of talent. They are always going to know who deserves to be here and who doesn’t. A guy like Abhishek Kapur, who has been wanting to make this film for ten years, is probably not going to risk it just for the sake of someone.”

Rasha opined that ultimately, it is the audience who decides the actor’s fate, irrespective of which family they belong to. She added, “With any film, audience is king. Whether you are good, not good, they recognise everything. Whether you are likeable or not likeable. The only thing as actors that can be done is just to work hard at your craft. You showcase the talent that you can showcase and then after that, you have to leave it to the audience whether they like you or not. Because I feel everyone deserves a fair chance for sure but after delivering your performance, if the audience doesn’t like you , you are out. But if they like you, you are in. Regardless of where you come from. It’s just about working hard. If you are destined to be successful, you will be.”

He said, “They (Aaman and Rasha) are young. Whenever there is a conversation around nepotism, they have to bear the cross but it’s really not their call. It is the filmmaker’s call. And what really is nepotism? It is when you pull someone down for your child to be successful. At least from where I am coming from – Sushant (Sushant Singh Rajput; Kai Po Che) was not a filmy child. I have got Mohit Malik in this movie- he’s got a very strong role. I am introducing him as well. And Raju and Amit Saad – they have all got very strong platforms in the movies, but we have never crushed anybody else to push anyone else up.”