Nepotism in Bollywood: Shekhar Kapur, Apurva Asrani disagree with R Balki’s views on Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt

Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide on June 14, leaving his near and dear ones in a state of shock. Following this, a section of the Twitterverse accused quite a few Bollywood biggies of ‘sabotaging’ the self-made star’s career and ridiculing him for being an outsider. Some fans even trolled star kids for being ‘products of nepotism’. SSR’s brother-in-law launched the ‘Nepometer’ to subtly encourage filmmakers to cast those with no industry connections in their films.

During a recent interview with Hindustan Times, Paa director R Balki reacted to the controversy and said that it is ‘foolish’ to discuss nepotism. He added that Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, who come from the Kapoor clan and the Bhatt family, are the ‘finest actors’ of their generation.

“I’d ask one simple question: Find me a better actor than Alia (Bhatt) or Ranbir (Kapoor), and we’ll argue. It’s unfair on these few people who’re probably some of the finest actors," he added.

Actor-director Shekhar Kapur has now reacted to the Cheeni Kum helmer’s remarks and made it clear that he does not agree with them. He tweeted that while Ranbir and Aklia are good actors, others too are equally talented. The Mr India director pointed out that he loved Kai Po Che (starring Amit Sadh, Sushant Singh Rajput and Rajkumar Rao) and implied that there is no dearth of talent in the industry.

Writer Apurva Asrani too echoed similar sentiments and said it is important to stop ‘fuzzing about’ a handful of names.

Meanwhile, Sushant’s last movie Dil Bechara is set to release directly on Hotstar on July 24. The film, an adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars, was supposed to get a theatrical release but that did not happen due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It remains to be seen if it clicks with the target audience.