Jisshu Sengupta on nepotism in movies: ‘Why won’t I support my kid, my nephew? They are my blood, it’s my money’

Jisshu Sengupta of Manikarnika and Mardaani will soon be seen in Shakuntala Devi with Vidya Balan. In this interview he talks about playing Paritosh Banerjee and his views on the nepotism debate.

Amid the furious debate currently raging on nepotism in the film industry, some celebrities have formed a clear opinion on the matter. Bengali actor Jisshu Sengupta weighed in on the insider vs outsider debate in a conversation with Hindustan Times.

Jisshu Sengupta will be seen in Shakuntala Devi next.

Jisshu says the film industry is much more democratic when compared to other industries. The transparency and the constant scrutiny it goes through has ensured it. “It’s everywhere. It’s not only in our industry, it is in every other. Here we get to at least know because it’s an open book. Everyone knows about everyone, talks about everyone. In other industries we don’t even get to know. It’s worse out there. Our industry is much better than any other industry where I don’t know how my boss, my company’s CEO is. And I don’t believe in this whole thing which is going on social media, about nepotism, about insider-outsider. If you are talented, you will be there and if you’re not talented, you won’t be there. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

Watch full interview here:

 

The actor added that he finds Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Tiger Shroff and Hrithik Roshan to be talented actors. “And I haven’t seen a talented guy who is out of work. Ever. If you talk about a star kid, is Alia a bad actor? I find her brilliant. Is Ranbir Kapoor a bad actor? I find him brilliant. Hrithik Roshan? I find him brilliant. I love to watch Tiger Shroff’s action films. I love it. If you name the actors who didn’t make it and are star kids, the list is more than those who have made it. So where is the nepotism,” he said.

Recently, director R Balki had also made a similar statement about Alia and Ranbir and their film families. “The question is do they (star kids) have an unfair or bigger advantage? Yes, there are pros and cons. But 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 had said.

Jisshu also made a case for putting one’s money wherever one wishes to. “And why won’t I support my kid, my nephew? They are my blood, it’s my money. I can put it. Yes, they have to be talented enough to make it happen again. I won’t obviously throughout my life put in money, money, money. Kuch bhi nahi horaha hai, chalo usko banate jao, banate jao. Koi nahi banata hai. And there are examples, I don’t want to take their names, who didn’t make it. Fair enough. But there are so many examples who didn’t have any relatives and they made it,” he said.

Jisshu who was seen with Kangana Ranaut in Manikarnika as her husband, hold quite different views on the matter than her. Kangana has been raging a fight against nepotism in the industry for a few years now. The fire was reignited after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whose fans and Kangana believe that the actor was ‘murdered by movie mafia’ and shunned out by powerful studios in favour of star kids.

Jisshu will next by seen in Shakuntala Devi opposite Vidya Balan. He plays the maths genius’ gay husband Paritosh Banerjee. Asked about the film and his role, Jisshu says he was not nervous about taking up the project. “If I have accepted the film, I have accepted the film and I go all out. And I have played bisexual characters earlier in my life also. In National Award-winning film Chitrangada. And you need you watch the film to understand what Paritosh Banerjee is all about,” he said.

Shakuntala Devi releases on Amazon Prime Video on July 31.

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