Mumbai: Bengali star Jisshu Sengupta avers that, irrespective of whether one is a star kid or not, survival in the film industry depends only on talent and luck.
Jisshu, who features opposite Vidya Balan in the new OTT release, "Shakuntala Devi", rose from a humble background to become a big success story in contemporary Bengali cinema. "I really don't know why people are talking about it so much. It (nepotism) was always there, it will be there. My daughter has already done a film. She is very young but she is a good actress. If she wants to take up films as a career and if I help her, is it wrong? I can put in money for her and I will. What is wrong in it if I support my daughter and make films with her if I feel she can make it big one day. I don't think there is any problem with that. I don't know if that is nepotism but I will help my daughter. But only on one condition, she has to be talented and she has to prove herself as an actor," Jisshu said. "If something wrong is happening, you should protest but you should not judge others without having proof. This is what I believe," he added.
The 43-year-old actor is known for his extensive and award-winning work in Bengali cinema, but he is not a stranger to Hindi audiences, with films such as "Barfi", "Piku", "Mardaani" and its 2019 sequel, and "Manikarnika" to his credit.
Jisshu believes a much-needed amalgamation of all regional film industries has happened because of OTT platforms. "I think in Amazon only, there is a lot of content from Bengali cinema. There are also a lot of Bengali apps which are there for quite some time now. It is up to the audience, if they want to watch it, they can go to these apps.
"Same goes for us as we couldn't see Marathi films or movies from the south as much as we wanted to. We never knew of Punjabi films as we were not able to watch these movies. Now, because of OTT platforms, we are able to see these different kinds of cinemas. So a crossover is happening," Jisshu said.
He stressed that OTT platforms have made people aware of his past work, which motivates him to venture into different territories. "I'm doing a Telugu film now which will be my fourth. I have started acting in Hindi... That's a great thing that has happened," he added. In Vidya Balan-starrer "Shakuntala Devi", Jisshu plays the role of Devi's husband Paritosh Banerji.
