Chunky Panday: Ananya auditioned with 1,000 girls for SOTY 2

It seems like the nepotism debate in Bollywood won’t die down anytime soon. Ever since filmmaker Karan Johar announced that Ananya Panday, actor Chunky Panday’s daughter, would be making her film debut in his production, Student of the Year 2 (SOTY2), trolls have been calling him the‘flag bearer of nepotism’, yet again.

However, Chunky isn’t really bothered about these things; rather he feels “sad for the 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.

“You can’t imagine the number of people who were trying out for the role and who couldn’t make it. I know Ananya is very confident and when she bagged this film, it was quite a surprise for us as well.”

Read | Chunky Panday: It feels ecstatic that I am known as Ananya’s father

Talking about the time when he started his career in films, Chunky recalls that even then there were people who would say such things and it’s only now that people have given it a name — nepotism.

“I remember when I had gotten into the film industry, my parents were very friendly with (actor) Rekha ji. 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 Rekha ji socially. Then, I remember someone saying, ‘Arey iske baap ne toh paise diye honge picture banane ke liye’ (His father must have invested in the film). So, people have always said such things,” Chunky laughs, adding that it’s only now that “people have got more vocal because of social media.”

The actor, last seen in Begum Jaan (2017), goes on to compare how 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 [even] know what stardom was and it was something very new to me. But these kids have seen stardom with 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,” he says.

Proud that Ananya is carving her own niche in the industry, Chunky says, “She has achieved something her father has not. Her father never had the chance to work with Karan Johar’s banner. Even my nephew, Ahaan, has landed up a project and again, I have never worked with them. So, this younger generation will achieve all that I couldn’t.”

Interact with Monika Rawal Kukreja at Twitter/@monikarawal