Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti are gearing up for the release of their upcoming film The Archies. The film marks the debut of Shah Rukh Khan‘s daughter Suhana Khan, Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda and Boney Kapoor’s daughter Khushi Kapoor. The casting of the film rekindled the debate around nepotism in Bollywood. Recently, Javed Akhtar addressed this at Sahitya Aajtak 2023.
Javed said, “She has all the right to take anybody under the sun, she shouldn’t be questioned. She is taking the risk, it is her project and she is backing it.” Javed added that when a filmmaker makes a movie, they take personal risks with their own money. They do not involve the government or some industrialist’s money, thus they have the right to cast whoever they want, without being questioned.
Javed added, “Film industry ke baare mein baat hoti rehti hain nepotism ki. Nepotism film industry mein ho hi nahi sakta. Duniya mein har jagah ho jaye, par yaha nahi ho sakta… Lekin, yahan nepotism isiliye nahi hain kyuki aadmi yaha khud risk le raha hain. Wo kisi aur ke kandhe pe bandook rakhe huye hain (There is a lot of talk about nepotism in the film industry, but it cannot exist here. It can exist anywhere in the world but not here because people take risks here and don’t depend on other people).”
The film also stars Vedang Raina, Dot, Mihir Ahuja and Yuvraj Menda. Speaking to Film Companion earlier, Zoya and Reema also addressed this debate. Zoya said, “What I find fascinating is that there were seven kids on the poster. Netflix and Tiger Baby put seven kids on the poster and the media only spoke about three, and then turns around and tells us about nepotism. I mean, you’re the one not giving the other four attention.”
The Archies releases on December 7 on Netflix.
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