Sanjay Kapoor says daughter Shanaya is not being launched by Karan Johar, she is an assistant director on Janhvi Kapoor’s film

Refuting rumours that Shanaya Kapoor will make her acting debut in Karan Johar’s production, dad Sanjay Kapoor says she did not want to go for a three-year course and opted to learn on sets instead.

Bollywood actor Sanjay Kapoor has said that his daughter Shanaya Kapoor is working as an assistant director on cousin Janhvi Kapoor’s upcoming film on fighter pilot and Kargil war hero Gunjan Saxena and added that she wanted to learn the craft onsets. The untitled film is being shot in Lucknow and Sanjay has confirmed that Shanaya is in Lucknow for the film.

Sanjay often shares pics with daughter Shanaya.

Sanjay told Pinkvilla in an interview, “It’s true that Shanaya is now in Lucknow and working as an assistant on Janhvi’s film. It was a joint decision. She was very keen on doing something different to understand the space, rather than just wasting time. Before she wanted to take up a film, she didn’t want to be abroad for a three-year course. Instead, she chose something personal like this. Obviously, I’m always there to guide her. Nothing in life is better than experience.”

Sanjay had announced Shanaya’s Bollywood entry earlier in February and his wife Maheep wrote on Instagram, “All the best Shanaya #newbeginnings #newjourney,” Sanjay wrote alongside his post, which shows the father-daughter duo posing together. “My baby’s gone to Lucknow for 2 weeks #MissYouAlready #AssistantDirectorsLife #LoveYou @shanayakapoor02 #ProudMama.”

He wants Shanaya to learn the importance of working hard and said, “For me, I believe my kids need to also know that this is an extremely professional space and it isn’t a cakewalk. Today, she is in Lucknow where it’s 41 degrees. So it will be difficult and requires a lot of hard work. She might be from a film family and connections are easy but sustaining won’t be easy. It’s very tough to survive in this industry. I know it really well which is also why I made her go through this process of assisting. All the glamour is only an exterior thought, inside, it’s a lot of hard work.”

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