Aaliyah Kashyap reacts to Instagram user who criticised her for sharing fundraiser for friend Ida Ali's film

Aaliyah Kashyap responded to an Instagram user who told her off for sharing her friend Ida Ali's fundraiser for her thesis film. She replied that if Ida's father Imtiaz Ali had produced it, people would call it nepotism.

On Sunday, Aaliyah Kashyap shared a fundraiser link on her Instagram Stories for best friend Ida Ali's senior thesis film. An Instagram user sent a private message criticising Aaliyah for her privileged behaviour and told her that Ida's father, filmmaker Imtiaz Ali could afford to produce the film instead. Aaliyah then responded to the user, explaining how common it is for film students to ask for aid, and pointed out that if Imtiaz had produced it, they would call it nepotism.

Aaliyah Kashyap came out in support of her friend Ida Ali on Instagram.

Aaliyah's earlier story had included a link to Ida's fundraiser page for her senior thesis film Red. She wrote, "Hi everyone! My bestie/sister @idaali11 is fundraising for her senior thesis film! It would mean so much if you could contribute any amount."

Aaliyah shared the fundraiser link on Sunday.

The synopsis for Red states, "A trusting girl peaks the interest of a stalker, leading him to an unexpected place." Ida is studying film production at Dodge College which is part of Chapman University in California. She has directed the short films Boundary, Lift, and The Other Woman. She has also written the script for Amazon miniTV's romantic drama Uljhe Hue starring Sanjana Sanghi and Abhay Verma.

Aaliyah's response

Later, Aaliyah, who is daughter of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and editor Aarti Bajaj, explained to the user that raising money through fundraisers was extremely common amongst film students. She said in another Instagram Story, "Lmao. Firstly it's extremely common practice for film students to crowd fund for their school films. Literally almost all film students do so, especially for their senior films."

She added, "Secondly, if her father produced her movie, then you would have a problem with it and call it nepotism. and now that she's trying to do it on her own and WANTS to do it own her own that's also apparently an issue?" Aaliyah defended her friend and shared that if Ida had gotten her father's help on the film, everyone would be quick to call it nepotism, but since she is trying to do it on her own, that is also an issue.