Shortly after journalist Rajeev Masand conducted the ‘Newcomers Roundtable 2019’, a clip of a conversation between actors Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi went viral.
It was during this conversation that Ananya, who marked her debut with Student of the Year 2 said “I have always wanted to be an actor. Just because my dad has been an actor, I will never say no to an opportunity to act. My dad has never been in a Dharma film, he never went on ‘Koffee With Karan’. So, it’s not as easy as people say. Everyone has their own journey and their own struggle.”
Siddhant Chaturvedi replied, “Jahaan humaare sapne poore hote hai, waha inke struggle shuru hota hai.” He helmed the character of MC Sher in Gully Boy, marking his debut through it.
“It implies the start-point and end point of the struggle. The internet made a thing out of it.”Siddhant Chaturvedi, actor.
This clip went viral and became subject to scores of memes and videos on social media. In a statement given to Hindustan Times, Siddhant clarified the intent of what is being perceived as a jibe towards Ananya. He said that when nepotism was being discussed, she just happened to speak before him and he was the last one to speak about the issue, implying that his statement was conclusive. He added that the sentence “implies the start-point and endpoint of the struggle” and the “internet made a thing out of it. The memes made it look as though the comment was aimed at Ananya, but it was not meant to be taken like that,” he said.
Tara Sutaria, Vishal Jethwa, Ananya Panday, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Abhimanyu Dassani and Saloni Batra, all of whom had made their debut also attended this instalment of the Actors’ Roundtable. The actors had made their debut into the entertainment industry though commercial cinema, independent cinema and OTT platforms specials.
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