Tanishaa Mukerji, who made her Bollywood debut in 2003, has appeared in just a handful of movies and TV shows since then. Being the daughter of filmmaker Shomu Mukherjee and actress Tanuja Samarth, the younger sister of Kajol, sister-in-law of Ajay Devgn, and cousins to actress Rani Mukerji and Ayan Mukerji, Tanishaa calls herself the ‘poster child of failed nepotism’.
Nepotism has been a topic spoken about on at regular intervals in the industry. This discussion picked up a serious pace after the untimely death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput last year. Now, the Sssshhh… actress has labelled the ongoing debate a “rubbish argument.” She even added that there is plenty of hard work involved even if you are a star kid, and not everything is easy. Read all she said below.
During a recent interaction with ETimes, Tanishaa Mukerji shared her viewpoint on nepotism and said there are pros and cons to it. The Neal’ n’ Nikki actress said, “Nepotism is a rubbish argument. It’s just a fancy word that people are using out of the context a lot of times. In today’s industry, if you are not working hard, you are not being seen. It is hard work.”
Tanishaa Mukerji continued, “There are pros and cons to everything. A person, who is not a star kid and makes it big in the industry, they will talk about how difficult it was to get their first break. But they don’t have to deal with the pre-conceived notion that the whole world had about a star kid – yeh toh Dharmendra ka beta, isko toh Dharam paaji k tarah hona hai or yeh toh Tanuja ki beti hai, isko toh Tanuja ki tarah hona hai. No, they come with a blank slate. That’s a huge benefit in our industry. There are a lot of cons also. I am not denying it.”
She further added that being a star kid or having other family members already established in the industry does not guarantee success. Labelling herself the ‘poster child’ of failed nepotism, Tanishaa Mukerji added, “I have got Rani (Mukerji) on one side, Ajay (Devgn) on one side, my mother is Tanuja, my sister is Kajol and I also have Ayan (cousin, director) in the family. I am the number one poster child of nepotism failing. (laughs)”
She continued, “All those people screaming nepotism, look at me and then talk. Some people will have a problem with what I have said, but some people will also say that she makes sense. It’s a give and take. It’s a beautiful time in the world to be out there and speaking your mind because people are having these conversations. And this is important.”
Do you agree with Tanishaa Mukerji’s views on nepotism? Let us know in the comments.
