"From Covid to drugs to #MeToo, everyone feels everything is going on here." Aparshakti Khurana tells Brut how preconceived notions have tarnished the image of Bollywood.
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00:00Me and Aayush, we're both, we don't drink, we don't smoke.
00:17What, according to you, is the biggest misconception about someone in the entertainment industry?
00:22There's a very weird misconception and I don't know how to be politically correct on this one.
00:28What happens is, sometimes our industry, our fidelity, gets caught on the wrong foot in a weird way.
00:37For example, from COVID to drugs to MeToo, everyone thinks that this is what's going on.
00:47I want to explain it properly so that people should not misunderstand what I'm trying to say.
00:52Recently, one of my own relatives told me that there's a lot of COVID going on in your country, right?
00:57That it happened in Arjun Kapoor's country.
00:59COVID is going on in the whole country, the whole world.
01:01It's not just going on in Mumbai or in our fidelity.
01:04That's the best example I can give that, sorry to say,
01:09when a film actor does something like this, then it becomes news, then it becomes news.
01:15Visibly, if a senior lawyer gets COVID, you know, in the Supreme Court or the High Court, then it doesn't become news.
01:23By the function of people wanting to read what an actor is going through in life.
01:29I want to say, as much as they work hard in their lives and they achieve the biggest things in their profession,
01:37an architect or a lawyer or a doctor doesn't become news.
01:42When Me Too was going on, it really, you know, is that filmmakers, actors, you know,
01:50this world becomes more news.
01:53Otherwise, isn't it happening in the corporate world?
01:56Or isn't it happening in a legal world?
01:59It's happening there too.
02:00Everywhere, there are people of all kinds.
02:02The way the fraternity is positioned, I think that's definitely the biggest misconception in today's generation.
02:11And I would really want to, you know, it's a humble submission from my side to all the, you know,
02:18journalists, to all the audiences from different walks of life, to take it in a very mature way.
02:26A family friend from Delhi called me and she was like,
02:31Hey, how are you?
02:32And I addressed her as Didi because I've known her for a really long time and, you know, she's 50 plus now.
02:39So I was like, Hi Didi, how are you?
02:41She was like, yaar, you need to help me that, you know, my daughter wanted to do this, that and the other.
02:47And then she's working with a filmmaker in Goa and I really want her to come back.
02:53She had just gone for a vacation and it's been seven months she hasn't come back.
02:57And I was like, how do I say this to her?
03:00Okay, go back to your mom.
03:01I mean, I'm not so much in touch with her.
03:04I like her and as a person and, you know, I take her as a family.
03:09But I speak to her only once a year.
03:11How do I say this with authority?
03:13Go back to your mom when your own mom has not been able to say this to you.
03:17And then she says, nahi yaar, abaar tum bologe toh maanegi, she'll use up to you.
03:23Maine kahe Didi, maximum I can do is maybe call her and say, okay, now you're about to,
03:28I can see that you are kind of, you know, interning with a filmmaker in Goa.
03:34How about interning with dash, dash, dash director or a filmmaker or a production house,
03:39you know, in Bombay, I can place you, I can help you to get placed, you know,
03:45in a good relevant setup.
03:46And she said, nahi, nahi, nahi, Mumbai shift nahi karana, Mumbai shift nahi karana.
03:50I was like, Didi, kyun, kya hua?
03:52She says, nahi yaar, abaar, tereko pata toh hai ki Mumbai mein kya hota hai.
03:55I was like, nahi, Didi, mujhe nahi pata ki Mumbai mein kya hota hai.
03:58Please explain Mumbai mein kya hota hai.
04:00So, she was like, nahi yaar, you know, people drink and smoke up.
04:05Maine kahe, does that happen only in Mumbai?
04:07It doesn't happen in Delhi.
04:08It doesn't happen in Punjab or Haryana or UP or anywhere or any other part of the world.
04:13It doesn't happen in London or New York.
04:15So, she says, nahi, nahi, abaar, mujhe lagta hai ki aapki fraternity, aapki industry mein
04:20saadh hai.
04:21Maine kabhi nahi chahiye diya, aap mujhe 20 saath se jaante hoon.
04:24Aur aap mujhe aur Aishwarya ko bahut achi tarah se jaante hoon.
04:26Me and Aishwarya both, we don't drink, we don't smoke.
04:30I mean, and vis-a-vis, you're talking about your own daughter, who's 22.
04:35Aapke saamne ki baat hai, she drinks and smokes and smokes up since the age of 16.
04:39Is it your upbringing then?
04:42I mean, it's so all relative.
04:44The misconception you were talking about, you know.
04:47I mean, there's no part of the world where people are not drinking or smoking or not
04:51smoking up.
04:52How is it that only people in Mumbai are kind of, yeah, that's a misconception I'm talking
04:57about.
04:58Could you please hum a few lines for us?
05:00This goes like...