Gulshan Devaiah calls ‘nepotism’ argument stupid, recalls losing out roles due to people with ‘veto power’: I have no bitterness in my heart

Gulshan Devaiah says people in power are free to give work to artistes of their choice; adds there is more favouritism in South industries

Model Hailey Bieber’s ‘Nepo baby’ T-shirt has rekindled the conversation of nepotism not only in the West but also in India. Actor Gulshan Devaiah, however, believes it’s a “stupid argument.”

Gulshan Devaiah

“It’s not a government job, it’s a private enterprise. Everybody is going to have their own subjective opinion about who’s the best suited for a particular role and they are going to make either choice. It’s a really stupid argument that talented people should get the job. Maybe that’s not the right thing to do but that’s their way. You can’t whine and cry about it. This is not a selection for IAS or IPS that you rank matters,” Devaiah reasons.

The actor, who completes 13 years in the industry this year, admits that there have been instances wherein he didn’t get the role because of someone. He elaborates, “It is upsetting. I was close to getting some roles but people have veto power and I have no bitterness in my heart. Even this boycott culture is a result of that.”

“It’s just human nature to blame everything for your misfortune. (But) We have to stop blaming people and it’s happening a lot since the demise of Sushant (Singh Rajput, actor). It’s like this whole negativity around things. Of course there are power structures, they have power and they do whatever they want but it’s really not some battle or it’s not like all darkness. If you look at the industry in the South, it is making so many waves. You can name all the actors who are really popular and all of them come from families. Everybody has their third and fourth generation working. But the Hindi film industry is far more democratic people like me, Vijay Varma, Soham (Shah), Mrunal Thakur, we are all working and doing well and making a living out of this,” he concludes.