Avinash Tiwary: "Why Didn’t The Audience Watch Sushant’s Sonchiriya In Theatres? Ab Sab Behti Ganga Mein Haath Dho Rahe Hain"

Avinash Tiwary has been a part of the industry for as much as 15 years! He got recognition with his brilliant performance as Majnu in Laila and Majnu and was later seen in Karan Johar's short in Ghost Stories. With the release of Bulbbul, his fame reached new heights! Last week, he grabbed headlines with his reply to R. Balki's comment on nepotism and that there aren't better actors than Ranbir Kapoor or Alia Bhatt. Now, Avinash has opened up about nepotism and is of the opinion that it's never the actor's fault in this case, but it lies with the audience and the media.

The entire nepotism debate stirred up after Sushant's tragic death in June. Talking about it to TOI, Avinash put forward a fair point- "Why didn’t the audience go and watch Sushant’s Sonchiriya in theatres? It was a good film. Ab sab behti Ganga mein haath dho rahe hain. Ab yeh nepotism ka trend chal raha hai, so let’s talk about it." He holds the audience and the media accountable. He added, "If my father was a big actor or producer, why wouldn’t I make use of my privilege? I hold the media and the audience accountable. The audience is the consumer. If they pay and watch cinema that is also being made beyond the mainstream, then it equalises things. Laila Majnu didn’t last in theatres even for a week. Secondly, the media has the power to put the spotlight on a talent that deserves it. I remember for Ghost Stories premiere, not a single article carried my photo or mentioned my name. Star kids like Janhvi Kapoor and Ananya Pandey were also present and they were written about. A few articles added my name later after I enquired about it.”

Talking about his comment on Alia and Ranbir, he doesn't deny that they are talented performers, but believes that an outsider would have taken much longer to reach where they have gone. He said, "Of course, Alia and Ranbir are brilliant actors and they would stand out even if they were outsiders. If Ranbir wasn’t from a film family, he would have probably taken 10 years to get a Rockstar, but he would have still bagged that kind of a film. Talent will shine through, and good work will be rewarded, but it isn’t a level playing field. Ayushmann Khurrana has taken eight or nine years to be a mainstream hero, Kartik Aaryan delivers 100-crore films today, but he too has been acting since 2010. That doesn’t happen with someone like Sara Ali Khan, who has a Simmba even before the release of Kedarnath. That’s an amazing privilege to have.”

Isn't it time that we actually pay attention to performances and as audiences empower those whose performance stand out? Will boycotting star kids be the answer or just supporting and being vocal about good performances be a better option? What do you feel? Let us know in the comments.