’Glad people are calling Ananya a star kid, that makes me a big star’

Chunky Panday talks about how people address Ananya Panday, his daughter, as a star-kid, how that makes him a big star, and also sheds light on how he stopped getting work in the late 90s.

'Glad people are calling Ananya a star kid, that makes me a big star'

Chunky Panday and Ananya Panday Picture Courtesy: Mid-day Archives

The issue of Nepotism has been prevalent in the Hindi film industry for a long time, and the debate has only amplified after the unfortunate demise of Sushant Singh Rajput. Nearly all the people on social media have called out star kids and film families for their privilege and how their struggles to find success were almost non-existent.

And in an interview with Anupama Chopra of Film Companion, Chunky Panday talked about how people address his daughter Ananya Panday as a star-kid, how that makes him a big star, and also being out of work after the era of the 90s began. First talking about his choices of films, Panday stated, "I only chose multi-starrer films as they were working for me."

He added, "And then came a time after 1993-1994 that multi-starrer films stopped being made. They just went on to solo heroes, it's like musical chairs happening and suddenly the music stops and I don't have a chair to sit on, so I was literally out of work." He then talked about his daughter and also addressed the issue of nepotism.

He said, "First of all I'm glad they are calling her a star-kid so that makes me a big star. I'm seeing the positive sides to it. I keep telling her 'You know exactly how you got here,' and Ananya, I always wanted her to be a doctor. Both my parents were doctors and I also tried but couldn't become one. At the age of 15, she told me 'Dad, I want to get into movies,' so I asked her to finish her graduation first."

He added, "Before going to college in Los Angeles, she auditioned for Student of the Year 2 and she did a couple of auditions. I just asked her 'What do you want to do?,' to which she replied, 'Dad, I really want to do this film.'

Coming back to Chunky Panday, he was a part of some very successful films in the late 80s and early 90s like Tezaab, Aankhen, Vishwatma, and more recently, the Housefull franchise, Apna Sapna Money Money, and Saaho. And as far as Ananya Panday is concerned, she has films like Khaali Peeli, Fighter, and a film with Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi lined-up.