Actor Shahid Kapoor once said that he gets 'upset' when people assume that he is a product of nepotism, being the son of the veteran actor Pankaj Kapur. Shahid's parents separated when he was a child, and he was raised by his single mother, Neliima Azeem. He began working as a background dancer when he was just a teenager, and made his own way through the film industry. His father corroborated these comments in a recent interview, declaring his son to be a 'self-made man'. Pankaj Kapur said that beyond genes, he has nothing to do with his son's success. In a Punjabi interview with SMTV, Pankaj Kapur said that his father showed him unwavering support, and encouraged him to get an education in acting if he wanted to pursue it as a profession. He said that it was almost unheard of for someone in Ludhiana to ever dream of going to Mumbai, but his father was progressive in that way. He said that he has been the same with his children; he told them that they are welcome to discuss their ideas with him, but that the decisions will always be theirs because he doesn't want them to blame him for their failures. Asked if he feels fathers are 'underrated', he said, "100% yes, I definitely am." Also read - Neliima Azeem recalls ‘tough’ single-motherhood with Shahid Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter, credits Mira Rajput for uniting the family He continued, "My father was a man of a different calibre. He would come and see every play of mine. Yes, before I left, he told me the English saying, 'You have burnt your boats, don't look back'. It's what the Romans used to say. This inspired me, to have my father's support. Whatever I learnt from him, I transferred to my three children. Shahid is a self-made man. What could I have to do with his success? I contributed nothing more than genes. Everything that he has achieved is because of his own hard work. I am very proud of it. I am not being humble, I am being truthful." Neliima was married to Pankaj Kapur from 1979 to 1984. She later tied the knot with Rajesh Khattar, with whom she was married from 1990 to 2001. Shahid said in an interview with Bollywood Bubble, “I’m one of those self-made guys who people think, because his papa was an actor, got it easier. And I get very upset about that, because I’m like, ‘Hey, guys, you don’t know my struggle’. Just because my father is Pankaj Kapur doesn’t mean I had it easy, because actually I didn’t even live with him, I lived with my mom. And he’s also a very proud man, he would never (offer to call someone on my behalf). And I was too proud to ask him for any support ever. In fact, I never even brought it up with him, neither did he ask me. It just never came up." Opening up about his childhood in an interview with journalist Faye D’Souza, Shahid said that he was too 'proud' to ask his father for help. “I knew my dad and we had a good equation, but I was with my mother since I was three. When Ishaan was born, I was 14, and mom stopped working because she had to take care of him. I didn’t have a relationship with my father where I would allow myself to ask him… I had a great relationship with him, but I didn’t want to ask… That’s not how I wanted to do it. He was always there for advice and guidance, but I wanted to do it on my own. I was very proud. This was the only route for me,” he said.
