Chunky Panday says Ananya’s success is hard-earned as he's been out of work since 90s

Bollywood actor Chunky Panday has time and again stood up for his daughter Ananya Panday amidst mounting criticism of nepotism.

The actor is doing just that once again as he sets the record straight for the anti-nepotism brigade in Bollywood during an interview with Anupama Chopra of Film Companion.

Talking about his daughter holding the label of a ‘star kid’, Panday said that it makes him feel like a star as well despite him being out of work since a decades.

"I only chose multi-starrer films as they were working for me,” he said.

"And then came a time after 1993-1994 that multi-starrer films stopped being made. They just went on to solo heroes, it's like musical chairs happening and suddenly the music stops and I don't have a chair to sit on, so I was literally out of work,” he added.

"First of all I'm glad they are calling her a star-kid so that makes me a big star. I'm seeing the positive sides to it. I keep telling her 'You know exactly how you got here,' and Ananya, I always wanted her to be a doctor. Both my parents were doctors and I also tried but couldn't become one. At the age of 15, she told me 'Dad, I want to get into movies,' so I asked her to finish her graduation first."

"Before going to college in Los Angeles, she auditioned for Student of the Year 2 and she did a couple of auditions. I just asked her 'What do you want to do?,' to which she replied, 'Dad, I really want to do this film,’” he said.