Tarun Khanna says, ‘The film industry in itself gives a lot of encouragement to nepotism and they don’t let people from outside to flourish’!

#TarunKhanna, who is seen in #FNPMedia and #FillmeNetworksPrivate Ltd’s short film “#ThePill”, has never shied away from speaking his mind. Not one to mince words, the actor, who has been a part of the industry for almost two decades now, spoke about the changes he has witnessed in the industry over the years, and said, “Nothing much has changed in the entertainment industry in the last 50 years. There was nepotism before, and it still exists.”

“People still get a chance to work in films only because they are related to somebody or the other. People who are from outside the industry never get a chance. Still you cannot suppress the real talent like Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao. The film industry in itself gives a lot of encouragement to nepotism and they don’t let people from outside to flourish. They make it a point that they should only give chances to people who are only from the industry, who are their home grown kids that are there. Apart from that a lot of competition has increased, that is all I can say,” he added.

From mythological characters like Mahadev to Balaram and Ravana, to other reel characters, Tarun has played a variety of roles on-screen. He said it’s a conscious effort to pick different characters.

“The audience has liked me a lot in the role of lord Shiva. So people know that this guy has got acceptance of the audience in this particular character so everybody keeps on offering me lord Shiva’s role or they keep on offering me roles similar to that historical or mythological character. So when I got the opportunity to play Chanakya I jumped at it. When Siddharth Tiwari asked me will you go bald for it I immediately said yes because I knew that if people see me with the jatas of Shiva and all of a sudden they see a guy who’s totally bald, they will know that I am happy to explore,” he said.

“And then when this film came my way I immediately said yes because I really want to experiment. I feel there is a lot of connect that I can make with a certain segment of the audience who is not aware of me as an actor. Those people who are not connected to me as yet and through this kind of product I can reach out to them also. That is why I thought I should take up these kinds of projects also and in future also I plan to take up something of a similar nature. I’ve done another web series which has got a lot of bold content, and my only condition when I am doing a bold content is that it shouldn’t be shot cheaply, it should be shot in a very aesthetic manner,” he added.

So which genre are you most comfortable with? “I am most comfortable playing a warrior or a political figure, a strong character like Shiv or Chanakya or any king for that matter. In modern times I would love to play a cop or an army general or may be a CBI officer. I am very comfortable with these kinds of roles because my personality is such, I have an authoritative voice and personality, so it comes very naturally to me,” Tarun concluded.