Karan Johar calls Sonakshi Sinha, Akshaye Khanna 'brand ambassadors of nepotism'

Filmmaker Karan Johar, who stirred up a row for raising the issue of nepotism at an award function, brought back the topic again on the promotional activity of his upcoming film "Ittefaq" quipping non-nepotistic people like Shah Rukh Khan can co-exist with a "brand ambassador of nepotism" like him in the same industry. He raised the topic at a press conference for the film, where the cast members - Siddharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha, and Akshaye Khanna, producers Shah Rukh and Kapil Chopra and director Abhay Chopra.

Karan Johar

"On the platform, today, there are two non-nepotistic people- Shah Rukh Khan and Siddharth Malhotra and rest of us - Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha, Akshaye Khanna, son of late actor Vinod Khanna, Abhay Chopra and Kapil Chopra, sons of late filmmaker Ravi Chopra, are the brand ambassador of nepotism. As we stand together, it speaks a volume about how worth they are equally, efficiently and correctly..."

During the IFFA Award ceremony in New York earlier this year, Karan, along with Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan, joked about nepotism and mentioned the name of National Award winning actress Kangana Ranaut, who earlier called him a 'flag bearer of nepotism' on his chat show. Asked about their moment of coincidence or "Ittefaq" to becoming a part of this film, all the actors cited their memories.

Akshay said: "My father did Ravi Chopra's debut film, I am doing his son Abhay Chopra's debut film... is a lovely coincidence", while Sonakshi said: "My father was offered the role in the original 'Ittefaq' but somehow it didn't work out and today I am a part if the remake version of it." "Ittefaq' is the remake of the original film of the same name made in 1969, produced by B.R. Chopra, directed by Yash Chopra and featuring Rajesh Khanna.

The new film, produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Dharma Productions and co-produced by B.R. Studios, will be releasing on November 3.