She’s always had that charm and cuteness that a quintessential B-Town ‘heroine’ needs in her personality. She’s a 10/10 when it comes to hotness and sensuality. However, what makes her cut above the rest and her contemporaries is her sweet and humble nature as someone likeable by people from all sectors. Her mother has been a legend in Indian cinema for the longest time and has all the potential needed to eventually carry forward the excellent work and fill in her late mother’s big shoes. Well, no brownie points for guessing that the entire introduction and description are about Janhvi Kapoor.
Before Janhvi Kapoor‘s most anticipated debut in the year 2018, fans were tremendously excited. Finally, finally, they had the diva making her grand entry into Bollywood, who would look forward to carrying the excellent work done by her mother. The fact that Janhvi Kapoor made her debut around 2018 end was well-known by one and all. On the other hand, Sridevi, unfortunately, passed away in the same year in February, a few months before she could see her daughter make her grand debut on the 70mm big screen. It was an overwhelming experience for Janhvi and her entire family, and no wonder it was a tough pill to swallow. As a young 21-year-old girl who’s looking forward to making her debut in the industry, it must have been an experience of getting torn between two emotions, happiness and sadness, at the same time. On the one hand, you are set to begin your most beautiful journey in the professional space; on the other hand, you don’t have the person with whom you want to share that ‘larger than life’ experience. However, like the strong girl she is, she managed to focus on what was ahead and move forward by seeking the blessings of her late mother and other family members.
As far as the film industry is concerned, ladies and gentlemen, one word that has gained immense popularity in the past few years is “nepotism”. While stars and superstars helping and launching their sons, daughters and relatives in the industry is no alien concept. For years and years, this has been happening. However, one thing has always been common. Regardless of your background or surname, acceptance has always depended on the audience. That’s why, while many star kids have done incredibly well for themselves, a lot of them have also faded over time just because the audience refused to accept them as ‘stars’. In today’s time of social media trolling and negativity, this is a discussion that’s very common regarding our young industry kids, and we aren’t surprised. While, more often than not, they prefer to keep the negativity away, sometimes it does bother them, and that’s when they want to step up their game and do their best. As far as star kids are concerned in today’s time, some famous names we can think of are Janhvi Kapoor, Ananya Panday, Sara Ali Khan and a few others. While all three of them are exceptionally beautiful, talented and hardworking, their choice of roles has been similar yet different at the same time. That’s exactly where, as a viewer, we feel that among all the young guns, Janhvi Kapoor is perhaps the only one trying to move out of her comfort zone to try something new and different.
On the one hand, where she can steam up the sensuality quotient and charm with perfection in a “Nadiyon Par” song, she can also get into the ‘de-glam’ mode and get all the attention on herself entirely for her performance in projects like Gunjan Saxena, and Good Luck Jerry. Although her last release ‘Mili’ wasn’t the best for her commercially, it indeed was a validation of the fact that she is someone who would rather be fearless and take bold calls in her career decisions instead of rather doing the same ‘masala roles’ that would ideally be ‘tailor-made’ for her just because she’s a modern-day star with a humongous appeal. Although not her biggest hit, ‘Mili’ was by far her best performance. While a lot of her other contemporaries are trying to do their best as well, only a few are perhaps taking such career calls as her. For someone like Janhvi, whose star is paired opposite her or her role’s ‘entertainment’ value is hardly relevant. So far, going by her choices, it is entirely the scope and bandwidth of ‘performance’ in her character that makes her decide whether she wants to be a part of that project. Yes, she’s a ‘star kid’ and perhaps she’s had it a little easier than the rest, and perhaps, her debut was indeed served to her in a ‘platter’. But, it takes a great deal of determination, dedication and will to actually have everything going in your way and yet do your best to start from scratch and rebuild your artistic value again for the audience. If we closely compare the modern-day sensations who have a family background in the industry, only Janhvi Kapoor has shown that spirit in her career choices. Yes, with such bold calls, the results at the box office might only go in your favour sometimes. However, the audience does not make an effort; they notice if someone is doing something different to be a cut above the rest. At the end of the day, “You must do something that others don’t to get something that others won’t”, and this is one thing Janhvi Kapoor has clearly understood. So yes, you can always label her as a ‘product of nepotism’, and she too will accept the same till the very end of her acting career. However, the only thing is that if you don’t shy away from labelling her as a product of nepotism just because of the family she was born in, you also must not hesitate to give her credit and appreciate her when it’s due, especially when not many others around her are doing the same.
With consistent efforts and intelligent decisions along with the humble nature that she already has, sooner or later, here’s hoping that Janhvi Kapoor continues to remind her fans and admirers that shades of legendary Sridevi can still be seen in today’s time with Janhvi Kapoor being the ‘medium’ for the same. Good Luck “Jerry”. (read: Janhvi).