Exclusive: Aditya Seal Defends Star Kids, Asks ‘Why Are You Bashing Alia Bhatt For Nothing That She’s Done?’

Nepotism as a word has entered the everyday vocabulary of Bollywood audiences only three years ago when Kangana Ranaut pointed fingers at Karan Johar on his chat show in 2017 for practicing it. Now it is now being commonly used in hate speeches all over on social media wherever the words star and kid are being used side by side.

We got in a long drawn conversation about it with Student Of The Year 2 actor Aditya Seal who has absolutely no filmy ties but bagged all his projects based on the many auditions he gave. Right off the bat the actor makes his stand clear and says, ‘f**k nepotism’.

Seal argues that being a star kid might have given many actors a head start but never guaranteed their survival in the business.  He tells us, “I agree star kids have it easier to debut in a film, there’s a lot more riding on them. Firstly they are under extreme pressure because they have to live up to a certain standard which probably their mother, father, grandfather whoever has set for them. It’s a huge bar for them to cross. I come with zero expectations, zero backing and you accepted me. On the other hand, if a star kid is very mediocre, doesn’t stand out, you’ll never accept him. So that is an additional pressure on them.”

The actor, whose latest film Anamika with Priyadarshan is getting rave reviews online, feels that you would watch an actor once or maybe twice in theatres and if that person doesn’t hold your interest you’ll stop spending your money on them. “So now if for example a star kid is able to garner that kind of money for a producer what the hell is wrong with it? I don’t understand it,” he states.

Going a little further Seal gives various examples of popular stars in the cut throat industry who made it not because of nepotism but by winning over audiences in theatres. “If the audience sees some talent in me then I got a chance. There’s a Kartik Aaryan who came from nowhere who became who he is. There is a Siddhanth Chaturvedi who suddenly and randomly just erupted into the scene. There is a Vicky Kaushal, people are just not talking about it.”

The actor also spoke of the TV industry asking audiences to widen their horizons in the debate and pointed out, “I bet you there’s at least 90 to 95% TV actors who come in who have no connections to anybody. Then why is this point being focused so much?”

Balancing his views he also presents Alia Bhatt as an example from star kids in Bollywood to drive the point home that it is all really just about talent at the end of the day. The actress who made her debut in Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year has been continuously dragged in the nepotism debate with trolls on going so far as to make recent release Sadak 2’s trailer the most hated one in YouTube history.

 “One person just came and used the word [nepotism] and nationalized it and I don’t know why the people would just take it in this way. This word is a personal vendetta against people. What does Alia Bhatt have to do more to prove herself? She’s been in the industry for 8 years, agreed she’s Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter, agreed she got a fantastic launch but has she not proved herself? If you think she had co-stars which helped her pull the movie through, then I’ll give an example - Raazi came, it was totally on her shoulders, how much money did that film make? It made over a 100 crores. Why? Because the general audience, they loved it. Now, why are you bashing her for nothing that she’s done? I don’t get it. This is just people pushing their personal agendas," he says.

Concluding his argument Aditya says, “I just have a problem with one person who I will not name. I mean I am not judging anybody’s personal journey but don’t generalize your journey as everyone else’s journey in this industry, it is absolutely unfair.”