Aditya Chopra on Uday Chopra’s unsuccessful career: ‘We could not make him a star…’ | Bollywood News - The Indian Express
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Aditya Chopra on Uday Chopra’s unsuccessful career: ‘We could not make him a star…’

In the documentary The Romantics, Aditya Chopra addresses the subject of nepotism in Bollywood for the first time. He also talks about his brother, Uday Chopra.

Aditya ChopraAditya Chopra spoke about launching his brother Uday Chopra in The Romantics. (Photo: Express Archives)
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Aditya Chopra on Uday Chopra’s unsuccessful career: ‘We could not make him a star…’
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Nepotism has been a thorny issue for Bollywood for the past five years, ever since Kangana Ranaut raised it on Karan Johar’s chat show, Koffee with Karan. For the first time, filmmaker Aditya Chopra has addressed the subject in the latest Netflix documentary, The Romantics. Aditya brings up the topic of his own brother Uday Chopra, an actor, who despite being the son of an illustrious filmmaker, could not make his mark in the Hindi film industry. Uday could only scrape a few hits in Bollywood, including Dhoom, Meri Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai and Mohabbatein.

Talking about the subject of nepotism, Aditya said, “One of the things that people tend to ignore, is that every person who comes from a privileged background–everyone is not successful. I can articulate it without mentioning other people. I can just articulate it mentioning my own family. My brother is an actor, and he’s not a very successful actor. Here is the son of one of the biggest filmmakers. He’s the brother of a very big filmmaker. Imagine a company like YRF who has launched so many newcomers, we could not make him a star. Why could we not do it for our own? The bottom line is, only an audience will decide ‘I like this person, I want to see this person’. No one else.”

Following this, the camera turns to Uday Chopra, who explains how he trained hard for his debut film Mohabbatein, which featured Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan in the lead roles. He said that Aditya Chopra told him that he would have to work hard at his dancing if he wanted to be an actor. Uday added that it “was all so easy” for him.

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Uday, who had starred in Dhoom, received strong praise from his co-stars Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan. Towards the end of the documentary, Aditya added, “Yes, if you are born into a film family, there’s no doubt that there could be an easier in to getting an audition or a break. But it stops there.” Uday added, “When Dhoom happened, I was still trying to be a mainstream actor. I should have taken Ali as an example and done roles like that.” The Mohabbatein actor further said that he received many offers, but he refused them all, as he “was trying to get into a space” that he agreed wasn’t meant for him. “When I started acting, I was very naïve. I thought everyone would like me. I didn’t imagine that people might not like me.” He referred to the constant discussion around him and how he wasn’t a ‘successful actor’, and was called a ‘child of nepotism’. “It did affect me a lot,” Uday admitted.

Aditya Chopra acknowledged Uday Chopra’s talent but mentioned that the audience did not see him the way he saw himself. “They loved him in comedy, but he didn’t want to do comedy. He probably realised on his own that this is not for me because I am not going to be able to find the kind of success that I want.” Uday was also asked if he wants to get back to acting, and he answered that it would be more of a hobby, and he is not looking at it as a career.

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First uploaded on: 14-02-2023 at 15:16 IST
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