Actress Ananya Panday, who appeared on the third episode of the popular chat show ‘Koffee With Karan’ along with Sara Ali Khan, addressed the nepotism debate as at one point she found herself at the centre of it.
During an actors’ roundtable conversation, Ananya had said that despite being an insider, things haven’t been easy for her as she too struggles with a lot of things before she went onto mention that her life hasn’t been as privileged as people think of it to be because her father never appeared on ‘Koffee With Karan’.
This coupled with actor Siddhant Chaturvedi’s comments about the starting line being different for insiders and outsiders during the same roundtable led to a barrage of criticism for Ananya and even more, countless memes around her.
Talking about the incident, Ananya said, “Honestly, I don’t want to sound like I’m victimising myself, saying ‘Oh it’s so tough for me’. It’s tough for everyone. It’s not easy for anyone in this business no matter at what stage they’re in their careers. All I have ever worked for is validation. I’m the daughter of a man who is a huge people pleaser. In every aspect of my life, I just wanted love from people.”
She further mentioned, “I do want people to think that I’m worthy of the opportunities I have got so far. I’m waiting for good work to come to me and I’m quite excited for the kind of work I’m doing.”
As fate would have it, a few years after the infamous roundtable, Ananya and Siddhant went to star opposite each other in the 2022 film ‘Gehraiyaan’.
The film, which also starred Deepika Padukone and Dhairya Karwa, released on streaming was panned by critics and failed to garner audience attention too.
‘Koffee with Karan’ Season 8 streams on Disney+ Hotstar.