He is royalty in the real sense of the word and he is also a part of Bollywood royalty. As the son of an actual Nawab and Sharmila Tagore a superstar of her time, Saif Ali Khan has also been accused of taking advantage of nepotism and unimaginable privilege. Recently the Nawab of Bollywood received kudos for casting someone other than his own daughter Sara Ali Khan in a film he co-produces.
At first, there was a lot of speculation about the film Jawaani Jaaneman starring both father Saif Ali Khan and Sara Ali Khan – playing father-daughter on screen as well. Two film old Sara has acquitted herself reasonably well in Kedarnath and Simmba; both commercial successes and has earned herself a fair amount of popularity. Kedarnath also earned her a Filmfare award for the best female debut – though we could debate at length upon whether there were other worthy contenders for this.
Though he would have loved to have acted alongside his daughter, Saif Ali Khan confirmed that he would not in fact be doing so. Instead it will be Alaia Furniturewalla who will be playing the role of his daughter in the film.
Described as a ‘relevant family comedy’, Khan has called Jawaani Jaaneman a slice-of-life film. The movie needed a fresh new face to play the role of Khan’s daughter. As such Sara would not have been an appropriate choice.
So, has Khan, co-producer of Jawaani Jaaneman, chosen to cast some unknown new comer based on talent and talent alone? In a word, no. Alaia Furniturewalla is yet another star kid. She is the daughter of starlet from yesteryears, Pooja Bedi and the granddaughter of Kabir Bedi.
Maybe she is not Bollywood royalty, but as the daughter of Pooja Bedi and the granddaughter of Kabir Bedi she is undoubtedly a star kid. She has already done this dance video, been in the news headlines for a pub brawl with another minor celeb, has an enviable social media following and is fairly paparazzi-savvy.
So if Khan will be working with someone else when he could have cast his daughter, there are good reasons for this, and he deserves no kudos. Nepotism is still very much a way of life in Bollywood.
Starkids who say they ‘worked their way to the top’ by putting in work as AD (assistant directors) and so on have to know that getting that job, simply being on the set and growing up in the filmi milieu are all privileges that others cannot even dream of. If star kids moan about ‘not having it easy’ or about there being ‘higher expectations’ of them, well boo hoo!
Getting even a small break in the film industry is difficult; getting a foothold a mammoth task. Who, for instance, would have cast Varun Dhawan – with the face he has – had he not been his dad's son? As for getting second chances, and then third and fourth – who would have got those the way that Bobby Deol and Abhishek Bachchan did – had they not had the fathers they do?
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