Actress Preeti Jhangiani, who has been part of a handful of popular Telugu films like Thammudu, Narasimha Naidu, Apparao Driving School, has spoken for the first time about the groupism that’s prevalent in Bollywood and how it could prove detrimental to one’s career in the industry.
“Groupism exists at every place of work. I’ve done a few multi-starrer films and faced exactly similar things. These gangs try throwing you out of Bollywood. And it does affect those who are sensitive. But, I didn’t pay much heed and was pretty confident in front of the camera,” she said in an interview with Hindustan Times.
Preeti, however, dismissed the idea that only insiders have the scope to make a mark in Hindi cinema and instead felt it was hardwork that could help one go places. However, she didn’t totally deny that kids from film families have a certain advantage. “If one is from a film family and has grown up in those circles, they’re already friends with that director or producer and will get two-three opportunities to start their career with, and several chances to improve mistakes and prove themselves again and again. But nothing helps if you don’t work hard and have that certain something in you.”
The actress finds herself lucky that nepotism didn’t dent her career prospects. “I was 17 or 18 when I started working in music videos and ads. Then south Indian films and Bollywood happened, so I won’t say nepotism affected my career much. After Mohabbatein, I should have reached out (to someone) for guidance. But I’ve been very shy and ended up making wrong choices. I blame it all on myself.” It’s welcoming that actors are able to reflect on their career with much awareness and maturity and not reduce the entire discussion to a mere blamegame on insiders and outsiders.
