‘She didn’t say anything derogatory’: Ananya Panday Receives Father Chunky’s Support over her Disputed Nepotism Comment

Ananya Panday invited massive trolling against her after she expressed her take on nepotism in the Bollywood industry. During the CNN-News18's The Newcomers Roundtable, her views on nepotism went viral, as she stated that even if she is the daughter of actor Chunky Panday, it’s not easy for her. She had also said that her father is still struggling and stated that her father has not appeared on Koffee With Karan and never been in a Dharma movie.

Her comparison of struggle with a Dharma movie and appearing on Koffee With Karan did not go down well with a lot of people, including actor Siddhant Chaturvedi, who had hit back at her with a ‘bohot hard’ reply.

Besides Siddhant, Jawaani Jaaneman star Alaya F too took a subtle dig at the SOTY 2 star’s comment and stated that she has a better answer to Nepotism as compared to Ananya. 

However, amidst all the backlash and trolling, Chunky Panday has stood in support of his daughter, Ananya. Clarifying her statement, he said: “She didn’t say anything derogatory. What she meant to say on nepotism was if my father had to recommend someone, he’d recommend himself first. And it would be wrong to say she is an actor as her father is one, for then she wouldn’t have come up with anything exceptional. Whatever she has achieved is on her own talent.”

Chunky also spoke about the nepotism debate and shared that  “You just can’t pick up the phone and recommend someone. And one isn’t going to spend ?20-30 crore on someone else’s child to make a film.”

Also Read: Chunky Panday to Ananya: “Stop Taking My Name”, after she Compared his Struggle with a Dharma Movie

Speaking of Ananya comparing his struggle with a Dharma movie and appearing on Koffee With Karan, he said that one shouldn’t consider this as a barometer to one’s success. The only barometer for an actor is the movie he or she gets to work on.

Recalling the time when Ananya was slammed for calling Chunky Panday ‘Tony Stark’, he shared “I too made a joke of it and sent her a message saying ‘Ananya stop name dropping me’ because every time she takes my name, she gets into trouble (laughs).”

Keeping aside all the negative comments, Chunky advises his daughter to take such trolls in a positive manner. “My daughter is still very young and she might have made a few mistakes, but she’ll have time to correct them. She was disturbed by the controversy about her college admission, so she started the So Positive initiative. I tell her to take these as compliments. Be happy you’re important to be talked about. As long as you know how you got a movie, no matter whoever tells you what, you know whatever people are shouting isn’t true,” he told Hindustan Times.