Please don’t look at just names: Karan Johar on launching Janhvi Kapoor in Dhadak

The topic of nepotism in Hindi cinema reared its ugly head at the trailer launch of Dhadak, albeit without the mention of the word. Dhadak will mark the debut of producer Boney Kapoor and late actress, Sridevi's daughter Janhvi Kapoor.

Since actress Kangana Ranaut cheekily accused him of nepotism for launching children of established artistes, producer-director Karan Johar has been at the receiving end of the debate.
 
Interestingly, at the Dhadak trailer launch, Johar wasn’t asked about nepotism, but he spoke from the heart while defending his decision to cast children of established film personalities.

While answering a question about what he had in mind while casting Janhvi and Ishaan Khatter in Dhadak, Johar said, "The only thing that I want from them is that they need to go beyond their name. That is our responsibility, it's their responsibility too."

Khatter is the half-brother of actor Shahid Kapoor.

“Of late, there has been lot of discussion over names. All I want to say is that please don’t look at just names. There is hard work, passion, too, that needs to be looked at. It is not easy to face the camera, talk to the media. They (Janhvi and Khatter) are just kids. I don’t even want to use that word [nepotism], for saying it would be giving importance to it. These people are here because of their hard work and not that word,” Johar opined.

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Dhadak is produced by Karan Johar, Zee Studios, Hiroo Yash Johar, Apoorva Mehta and directed by Shashank Khaitan. Dhadak will be released on 20 July.1

This November, Johar will launch actor Chunky Pandey’s daughter Ananya. She will make her debut in Student Of The Year 2.