Sridevi forbid Janhvi Kapoor from becoming an actor, said she wouldn’t wish comparisons ‘on worst enemy’: ‘Why can’t you become a doctor?’

Janhvi Kapoor said that her mother, Sridevi, didn't want her to follow in her footsteps and become an actor.

New Delhi | Updated: May 21, 2024 01:15 PM IST

3 min read

Janhvi Kapoor's mother Sridevi passed away in 2018. (Photo: Janhvi Kapoor/Instagram)

Actor Janhvi Kapoor said that her late mother, the screen icon Sridevi, expressly forbid her from becoming an actor. In a new interview, Janhvi said that her mother told her that she worked so hard to provide her children a comfortable life, and that acting was certainly not going to be a cake-walk. Sridevi told her that she wouldn’t wish the life of an actor on her worst enemy, and that she would’ve wanted Janhvi to become a doctor instead.

Sridevi died in 2018, just a few months before Janhvi made her acting debut in the film Dhadak. Janhvi’s younger sister, Khushi Kapoor, debuted as an actor in 2023, with the ensemble film The Archies, directed by Zoya Akhtar. Chatting with her mentor Karan Johar in a video posted on the Dharma Productions YouTube channel, Janhvi was asked if her parents were happy with her choice of profession.

Also read – Janhvi Kapoor decided to ‘detach’ herself from mom Sridevi when she started shooting for Dhadak: ‘I used to tell her not to come on sets…’

She said, “Mom actually never wanted me to become an actor. We’re a result of our parents’ ambitions, but also their insecurities. She had spent so much time in front of the camera, seen all of it, done all of it… She would keep telling me, ‘I’ve toiled away so that I can give my girls an easy life. This is not an easy life. It is not as glamorous as you think it is. I really just want you to have a comfortable life. This is not it’. And she told me, Karan. She said, ‘The comparisons that are going to come with you becoming an actor being my daughter, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy’. She said that repeatedly, and she said, ‘Why can’t you just become a doctor?'”

Janhvi said that along with the privileges that she inherited being the daughter of successful film industry personalities, she also inherited a mad passion for films and acting. “It’s all I knew, it’s all I’ve seen, it’s everything that I’ve loved. Every positive memory that I’ve had growing up, the associations I’ve made spending time with my family, all have something to do with films. The love that I feel for movies and acting is in my blood.”

Janhvi debuted with Dhadak in 2018, and has since appeared in several projects that were either designed for streaming or ended up gaining traction online. Her upcoming film, Mr & Mrs Mahi, is only her fourth-ever theatrical release. The film will be released on May 31.

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