Exclusive! Aftab Shivdasani on groupism in Bollywood

Aftab Shivdasani made his debut in the 1999 release 'Mast' opposite Urmila Matondkar. But even before that he appeared as a child actor in many films including the cult classic 'Mr India'. Aftab then went on to do several films in the early 2000’s like 'Masti', 'Awara Paagal Deewana', 'Hungama' and many more. He made a place for himself in the multi starrer comedies genre. Despite doing so many films and being a part of the industry for so many years Aftab never chose to stick to one production house or be a part of a certain ‘camp’ in

In an exclusive chat with ETimes, Aftab looked back at his long career and also spoke about wearing a new hat - of turning a producer with his wife Nin Dusanj. When asked to share his thoughts on the camps and groups in Bollywood Aftab said, “This groupism was called as campism in the early 2000's where people were saying this one belong to YRF, Bhatt or other camps. I was never subjected to this as I always worked with a wide spectrum of producers and I was friendly to all but never close. Therefore, whenever they had a role and they would call me then I would go and meet them. I did 9 films with Vikram Bhatt, 5 or 6 films with RGV but I was never a part of their camps. It's basically how you conduct yourself and I have been friendly to all. Karan (Johar) is even a distant relative of mine but I have never been close to anyone. I've been civil, nice and friendly to everyone and therefore I don't have any enemies. So I have never conciously gone into a camp or a group which is why I have kept myself away on the peripheries of this groupism vs campism ideologies .”