Does star lineage guarantee success at the box office?

Many children of famous parents have debuted with much-hyped films and exited without a whimper

Is lineage all that important for success, as the anti-nepotism brigade would have us believe? The recent successful debuts of Tiger Shroff, Sara Ali Khan and Ananya Pandey would have us believe that.

But can we say that Ishaan Khattar got acclaimed Iranian filmmaker in Majid Majidi to give him his debut film ‘Beyond The Clouds’ because of his family connect? Casting director Honey Trehan, second unit director on Ishaan’s brother Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Udta Punjab’ on which the youngster was assisting, recommended him and the rest was audition history.

Yes, besides easier exposure and a platform or two to get noticed (very few star kids get launched by parents nowadays), perhaps the only advantage these actors have is getting valuable tips.

As Ishaan says, “My mother (actress Neelima Azim) gives me references for good performances. We discuss cinema and its subtext, and the many ways of expression. My father (actor Rajesh Khatter), on the other hand, understands the industry better and is a master in voice modulation.”

Rishi Kapoor had let out the secret that the Kapoors traditionally never interfere in their children’s choice of films. And he had mentioned this especially when he felt that son Ranbir Kapoor was choosing the wrong kind of movies at the beginning of his career.

Let us also notice that the biggest among GenY stars, Ranveer Singh, did not reveal his connection to Anil Kapoor for a long while. Contrast this with the erratic career of Anil’s brother Sanjay Kapoor, daughter Sonam and nephew Arjun, and the complete non-status of his son Harshvardhan.

With the nepotism debate at its feverish high now, we get to see the flipside too: Netflix removed all credits for ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’ from the publicity simply because the film was produced by Karan Johar. He is considered the “ambassador of nepotism” after launching Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Ananya Panday, Ishaan (in Hindi films) and Janhvi Kapoor, Boney Kapoor’s and Sridevi’s daughter. The OTT platform apprehended that a certain section of the audience may not watch the film.

But, as Kareena Kapoor Khan stated recently, lineage alone has not made her last. In her 20-year career, Kareena has been Numero Uno for at least seven years. And who held the position for the rest? Surprise! Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (when Kareena came in), Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra — all outsiders.

But has not the Kapoor family, considered the first family of Hindi cinema, also spawned Rajiv Kapoor, whose only hit as an actor remains Raj Kapoor’s ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, in which the protagonist was the outsider Mandakini.

More importantly, people are yet to accept the golden axiom that films run and make stars, or fail and unmake them. Had this not been true, no top star would have had a flop. And while Prithviraj Kapoor’s sons Raj, Shammi and Shashi were the original star kids (and they all had varying periods of struggle), the first two actors considered to have ushered in the star-son era were Kumar Gaurav with the super-hit ‘Love Story’ and Sanjay Dutt with the average ‘Rocky’. But look at the contrast in their careers later.

The chasm between the careers of Dharmendra’s children Sunny and Bobby Deol, as also nephew Abhay Deol, is only too evident. Hema Malini-Dharmendra’s daughter Esha Deol too did not reach anywhere, and neither did Rajesh Khanna’s and Dimple Kapadia’s daughters Twinkle and Rinke Khanna.

Manoj Kumar (Kunal Goswami and brother Rajeev Goswami), Shashi Kapoor (Kunal, Karan and Sanjana Kapoor), Raaj Kumar (Puru, Panini and Vastaviktaa), Vyjayanthimala (Succhindra Bali), Mala Sinha (Pratibha), Joy Mukerji (Sujoy Mukerji) and even later stars like Mithun Chakraborty (Mahakshay), Raj Babbar (Arya, Juhi and Pratik), Naseeruddin Shah (Imaad and Vivaan) and Govinda (Narmadaa Ahuja) are among many more examples.

The very fact that Sonakshi Sinha, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna succeeded while respective siblings Luv Sinha, Soha Ali Khan and Rahul Khanna did not reaffirms that, in this profession, with so much at stake, lineage is of little consequence.

And for those who allege that the Khans (mis-)rule, why did Aamir Khan’s brother Faisal and nephew Imran never make it, ditto with Salman Khan’s brothers Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan? Salman’s brother-in-law Aayush Sharma, as well as other protégés Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty and Pranutan Bahl (all-star kids), are also still struggling.

Clearly, stardom is all about just three virtues: talent, professionalism and the X-factor.

More outsiders like Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ayushmann Khurrana, Katrina Kaif and Taapsee Pannu spotlight the fact that nepotism is just a meaningless term in the context of the Hindi film industry.