Pooja Bedi comments over Kartik Aaryan’s exit from Dostana 2; says, “There’s equal opportunity for everyone”

Kartik Aaryan's replacement from Dostana 2 was a major blow to Bollywood and his fans. Reacting to the same, actress Pooja Bedi said that an actor's career boils down to 'destiny, potential, and talent'.

The recent comment comes after the reports suggested that it was the creative differences that provoked Dharma to ban the Luka Chuppi actor from future projects; the real reason for such a bold move still seems to be in the wrap. A portion of Dostana 2 was filmed with Kartik and Janhvi Kapoor before it was announced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions that the project would be recast.

The recent development made it to the headlines after rumours about the actor's dismissal erupted and his fans called out the production house after they perceived that the film would see a star kid being replaced in Dostana 2. The departure of Kartik Aaryan once again sparked the nepotism debate and how the film industry is treating an 'outsider' unfairly. 

In a recent interaction with ETimes, Pooja Bedi spoke about the nepotism debate in Bollywood - particularly in relation to the Kartik incident - pointing out the presence of 'equal opportunity for everyone' and how people just hate those who come with a background of privilege. 

The actress also mentioned that her daughter, Alaya F,  had to audition and face rejection before getting her debut movie Jawaani Jaaneman last year.

Commenting about the ‘nepotism’ in the industry in the light of Kartik’s exit from Dostana 2, Pooja said,

I’ll say that there’s equal opportunity for everyone. We have Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan and so many other people who have come into the industry with no background and become icons. At the same time, we have people who’ve been part of the industry and yet fizzled out. Kumar Gaurav made a great debut with ‘Love Story,’ but his career didn’t take off.

- Pooja Bedi

Furthermore, Pooja also mentioned that she herself had to audition for her role in the Netflix series Masaba Masaba and added that the outside world ‘chooses’ to see this as an entitlement and ‘people are envious of people who have a certain privilege.’

She asserted, “Yes, of course, we are privileged, but that doesn’t mean that anybody will cast someone because there’s somebody’s child. A lot of outsiders are being given those opportunities, and I think it’s fantastic.”

Earlier last month, Pooja landed in controversy after posting pictures from Goa and suggested that living under lockdown and wearing masks was a form of self-imprisonment. The actress was heavily criticised for flaunting her privilege and expecting regular people to escape crowded cities and live a lifestyle like hers.