She is a Bollywood star kid, who dabbled in films, reality TV shows and now foraying into short films. Tanishaa Mukerji belongs to family of Superstars – mom Tanuja, sister Kajol, brother-in-law Ajay Devgn, cousins – Rani Mukherji and Ayan. However, Tanishaa chose her own path, taking things in her own stride.
While speaking to ETimes TV exclusively about her upcoming short film, Tanishaa addressed the age-old topic - Nepotism or mainly how star kids get favoured and direct opportunities in Bollywood.
The Bigg Boss 7 fame ousted the term outright saying, “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. 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, “But in today’s industry, it is very difficult and all about hard work. When Alia came in the industry, there was so much expectations from her. And she has worked so hard in the industry and I think she is one of the most talented children. She is super talented as an actress. If she wasn’t this talented, she wouldn’t be this popular as she is. She lights up the screen and kills everyone with her performances. And you are telling me, she’s made it because she is a star kid? For that matter, even Ranbir! See them on-screen… they light it up. There’s Varun…they are all so talented and works so hard. And then there are non star kids, who are making it big.”
The actress called herself the poster child of how Nepotism is a failed term saying, “Main toh nepotism ki number 1 example honi chahiye thi. 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 number one poster child of nepotism failing. (laughs) 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.”
