A long road ahead: Actors Vidyut Jammwal, Kunal Kemmu raise nepotism debate after their films get sidelined

Actors Kunal Kemmu and Vidyut Jammwal showed their concern over not receiving invitation to be the part of Disney+ Hostar’s event that was organized to announce the digital release of some of big banner films including Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak 2 and Akshay Kumar’s Laxxmi bomb.

The virtual event included stars like Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and others who spoke about their films. Both Vidyut and Kunal took to Twitter to express their grievances for not being given equal opportunities. This comes in a time when the entire industry has been split into two parts regarding the nepotism and discrimination debate following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide.

Vidyut Jammwal, whose film Khuda Haafiz is also going to release on Disney+ Hostar was not very pleased with being uninvited for the event. Retweeting a post shared by trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the actor wrote, “2 films, receive no invitation or intimation. It’s a long road ahead. THE CYCLE CONTINUES”. Based on some true incidents, Khuda Haafiz is directed by Faruk Kabir and co-stars Shivaleeka Oberoi.

Similarly, Kunal Kemmu was not invited to the event despite his film Lootcase in going to release on the platform. Following Vidyut’s path, Kunal shared a post on Twitter indirectly calling out the platform for not having him as a guest. “Respect and love are to be earned. If someone doesn’t give it to us, it doesn’t matter. Just give us equal space to play, because we too can jump high,” his post read. Kunal will be seen in the film alongside Rasika Dugal.

This has sparked reactions from other Bollywood celebrities as well. Actors like Genelia D’Souza, Randeep Hooda and others have supported Kunal and Vidyut after they tweeted.

All the seven movies announced by Disney+ Hotstar are slated to release by October 2020.