Sargun Mehta: Good roles in Bollywood films never come to outsiders

Actor Sargun Mehta has two versions of how nepotism works in the Hindi film industry, and feels that outsiders who have made it big got lucky.

Actor Sargun Mehta’s journey in showbiz started as an outsider who didn’t know anyone from the entertainment industry or have any contacts. Landing her first show was a stroke of luck, but there was no looking back ever since.

While several TV stars are graduating to Bollywood, Sargun still hasn’t made any step in that direction. Asked if it has anything to do with nepotism debate, according to which only star kids get the right opportunities, Sargun says, “I have always had two versions of it. First one is, the good roles never come to us [outsiders], we are not even auditioned for them, because they are already taken away.”

She then goes on to give examples. “You will have to really look in the past few years to see how many outsiders made it easily, or coming up in numbers more. Basically, everyone around is a star-kid. But then there are people like Nushrat Bharucha and Kartik Aaryan, who are making it. However, look at how they made it. Their films weren’t big-budget ones, or they weren’t invested in, or ‘launched’. They were the ones who made it, just because, like a chance,” she says.

Sargun, who has worked in shows such as 12/24 Karol Bagh and Phulwa, also elaborates on the ‘other version’. “Say, my father runs a business, and today my brother is running it for him. There are people who have worked with him for 30 years, but today, my brother is the boss. That’s not fair, but that’s what parents do, and that’s what a legacy is supposed to be. Why would somebody work hard for 30 years if they can’t give it to their kids? Nepotism, I feel, sometimes is a little over-hyped and sometimes very true,” she signs off.