On June 14, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput passed away due to suicide. He was merely 34 years old and his untimely death triggered a huge debate on nepotism in the Bollywood film industry, considering he was reportedly in depression for not being able to come to terms with showbiz and its unfairness. Since then, several A-listers like Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, Sonam Kapoor among others have been at the receiving end of outrage by cinegoers, who called them privileged for coming from a “Bollywood lineage”.
Now Sushant’s Dil Bechara co-actor Saif Ali Khan has claimed that he too has been a ‘victim of nepotism’. In a chat with senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai for The Indian Express, he said, “There is inequality in India that needs to be explored. Nepotism, favoritism and camps are different subjects. Even I have been a victim of nepotism, but nobody speaks of that.” Saif was speaking about the the Koffee with Karan episode with Kangana Ranaut where the latter slammed KJo by calling him the ‘flagbearer of nepotism’.
Saif also spoke about Sushant and claimed that he felt ‘he was brighter than I was’. He added, “He was polite to me and appreciated my guest appearance in the film. He wanted to talk about many topics like astronomy and philosophy.”
Albeit, soon after the interview, netizens started trolling Saif left, right and center for calling himself a ‘victim of nepotism’ and reminded him that he is not only a nawab but also the son of veteran actress Sharmila Tagore and former Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
In fact, social media users came up with several memes how Saif comes for a privileged background and he, out of all people, cannot talk about ‘nepotism’ like the B-town outsiders. Check out some of them:
Not only Saif Ali Khan but also Taimur has been a victim of Nepotism 😅#SaifAliKhan #TaimurAliKhan pic.twitter.com/UdRTo9Jrp4
— Bhushan Joshi (@mejoshibhushan) July 2, 2020
#SaifAliKhan said he is a victim of #nepotism
Meanwhile Nepotism : pic.twitter.com/jDSFftztAo— 𝙷𝚊𝚁𝚜𝙷 𝚅𝚊𝚁𝚍𝙷𝚊𝙽 (@_h4rshV) July 2, 2020
#SaifAliKhan
Saif Ali khan said He also was a victim of nepotism…..
Meanwhile Public be like 👇 pic.twitter.com/l5ytlwfW49— Rιααɴ 💫✨ (@iamRiaan90) July 2, 2020
Karan johar after seeing the news of Saif Ali Khan being victim of nepotism 🥴#Saifalikhan pic.twitter.com/DiFsyKcf8b
— sh@r@d (@sharad1483369) July 2, 2020
Saif Ali khan complaining about nepotism is like : pic.twitter.com/iSthGKnJNw
— SAFFRONIST rIsHu // RW Stan Acc (@DESI_INDIAN98) July 2, 2020
Saif Ali Khan claimed to be a victim of nepotism
Meanwhile* pic.twitter.com/cg3QdKkT4C
— bhargavprdip (@bhargav_prdip) July 2, 2020
Saif Ali Khan says he's a victim of nepotism.
My reaction pic.twitter.com/9k5TaajGm3— Sumit (@SumitMi02880332) July 2, 2020
*Saif Ali Khan is a victim of nepotism*
Meanwhile public:- pic.twitter.com/tKrIvaIuNe— Funtastic (@FUNTA_SINGH) July 2, 2020
When son of Nawab of Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore(relative of Rabindranath Tagore) Saif Ali Khan says he has been a victim of #nepotisminbollywood pic.twitter.com/8o3QMEJLNx
— Joe Biden🗨️ (@JoeBidenn20) July 2, 2020
Saif Ali khan complaining about being a victim of nepotism is equivalent to Rahul Gandhi complaining about not getting opportunity in indian political scene. Same same!
— Dextro (@Dextrocardiac1) July 2, 2020
When Saif Ali Khan Says ,
He is an Victim of Nepotism.
Audiences: pic.twitter.com/NvtfO9VxdB— 𝐑 𝐀 𝐅 𝐈 (@IamRaaFii) July 2, 2020
Although Saif did sign out by saying that he was happy to see people like Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pankaj Tripathi, with no film background, becoming a household name. However, his statement on nepotism is going not going to leave him too soon.