Ibrahim Ali Khan’s debut film Nadaaniyan featuring Khushi Kapoor was slammed by critics and the audience alike. Talking about the heavy thrashing, which might shake the confidence of the debutants, director Hansal Mehta told ETimes, the comments about them were made “in terrible taste” and they must have “traumatised” them.
Hansal Mehta argued, coming from a film family doesn’t ensure acting skills. He also said that these actors’ parents, too, had an “awkward” launch, though they didn’t have to face social media scrutiny.
“I do feel that people are being very harsh and unfair. What is sad is that, have we checked for the preparedness of these children before they have got their break? The kind of comments that people are passing are in terrible taste. I’m sure it must be traumatising for the young people. But we forget that their parents at one time, a lot of their parents at one time made very awkward beginnings too. They also had awkward debuts. It’s just that they were just not so much in the public eye then, as people are now, due to social media,” said Hansal Mehta.
The Shahid filmmaker also argued that these actors dreamt of a “big launch” and their advisers kept on pushing them for dazzling breaks rather than checking their preparedness.
Mr. Mehta recalled how he had approached one of these children for a film, an unusual break for a newcomer. But their advisors felt that he/she should be doing something conventional, should be making a high-speed entry, and get the same ‘mounting’ that Kumar Gaurav or Sunny Deol or Hrithik Roshan or Tiger Shroff got.
“They want to be launched by a big banner, irrespective of whether they have the big idea. They want that big banner, they want a big daddy to be advising them all the time. I feel sad when I see them being ridiculed by people. And my only plea to them is to keep their head down, focus on their work. The moment they perform well in something, no matter how well or badly done at the box office, they will be respected. Their first target should be to get respect with their work,” Hansal Mehta said.
A few days ago, Hansal Mehta wrote a long post on X, praising the new breed of actors like Adarsh Gourav, Vedang Raina and others, implying that Hindi film industry is not dying, it just needs a rebooting.
