‘I’m excited to see Sara, Ananya and Tara on screen’: Janhvi Kapoor on why she isn't competing with her contemporaries

Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter were launched by Dharma Productions this year. Their movie — Shashank Khaitan’s Dhadak — went on to do great business at the box office and has turned out to be the highest-grossing film starring newcomers in recent years. Soon enough, the banner will be launching newer faces into showbiz.

There’s Saif Ali Khan’s daughter Sara Ali Khan, who will make her Bollywood debut with Simmba this year, whereas Chunky Panday’s daughter, Ananya Panday along with Tara Sutaria, will be seen in Student Of The Year 2, which releases next year. Ask Janhvi if there’s a sense of competition and she rues, “I don’t know why everyone is pitting us against each other. I guess people enjoy doing that. Competition is a bad thing if you make it sound that way.”

Questioning the underlying sexism, the 21-year-old says, “It’s also odd because I think you only pit women against each other. Why is no one asking Ishaan the same question — if he’s feeling the sting of competition, too! People love pitting women against each other. But in reality, we can be happy and celebrate each other’s success. It’s easy to co-exist, if you are doing a good job.”

Janhvi adds, “As an audience member, I’m excited to see Sara, Ananya and Tara. I haven’t interacted with Tara, but I have spoken to Sara and Ananya and they’re so full of life. They are amazing people and I’m excited to see them on screen because I’m sure they will be magic. It’s good to see so much new talent coming into the industry.”

Did her contemporaries give her feedback? Pat comes the response, “Both Sara and Ananya spoke to me once the promos of Dhadak were out. They are sweet.”