Joining the bandwagon of celebrities, who are voicing their opinion on the existence of nepotism and favouritism in showbiz, actor Tamannaah Bhatia is certain that she can only talk about her career and experience in showbiz.
Calling herself an outsider, she says, “Coming from Mumbai, when I started doing Tamil and Telugu films, I neither knew the languages, nor did I know anyone in the industry. So I had no connection whatsoever. I worked hard and kept getting opportunities may be because people saw potential in me. Whatever success or failure I got on my way was because of my efforts and destiny.”
The whole nepotism debate, along with the discussion around insider-outsider came back in focus after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
Though Bhatia,30, feels that nepotism, favouritism and politics are there happen in every field and not just in the film industry,she says “such things cannot determine your success or failure”.
She elaborate her points further, “My family has a lot of doctors and now if I had taken interested in the profession like my brother then they would have also guided me. Tomorrow, if my child wants to become an actor, I’d do the same. That’s how it works, there’s nothing wrong in that.”
However, Bhatia is quick to point several examples in Bollywood where ‘outsiders’ without a film background, have made their way to the top.
“Look at Shah Rukh Khan. He’s a legend, one of biggest stars of Indian cinema. In the present generation, actors like Ayushmann Khurrana or Kartik Aaryan also had their share of individual struggle and made it on their own,” she says.
Bhatia, however, agrees that star kids do get more opportunities than an outsider. “But then, your success can’t be determined by such factors. One might say I got many opportunities but why am I saying this?”
She answers this by haring the story of her own struggle, and how it shaped her as an individual and performer. The actor recounts that it was when her Hindi films didn’t work, she got a film like Baahubali: The Beginning, (2015). “It became one of the most popular Indian films. and that changed things for me. It made me believe in myself and move out of my comfort zone. So I did take a few chances in my career, whether they worked or not wasn’t in my hands. But I’m happy,” says the actor.
While she has a few Tamil and Telugu film and web projects in her kitty, Bhatia is raring to go back to work. But she feels film shoots will begin by the year end.
“I feel personally proper film shoot will only happen when things get normalised. In films we require a large number of people in the background so cutting down on the number might be a problem to begin with unlike TV or web where it’s a lot easier. When I go back, I’d obviously check on the precautions that are being taken, I’d also follow all the safety norms. This is going to be the new normal for some time, so we’ll have to adjust,” she ends.
