Despite Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor walking away with praise for his dark turn in the recently-released Netflix thriller ‘Thar’, the Bollywood actor has found himself on the receiving end of memes and online trolling following a comment he made in a recent interview that several on social media said reeks of privilege.
In a conversation with Mashable India’s ‘The Bombay Journey’, Harsh Varrdhan stated that he didn’t lead the kind of privileged life that people thought he did, alluding to his Bollywood connections — he’s the son of veteran actor Anil Kapoor and brother to actress Sonam Kapoor.
Rather than pamper him with luxury gifts, Harsh Varrdhan said his parents, including mother Sunita Kapoor, reportedly let him fend for himself.
“I hate to break it to the audience, but the reality is that my parents have no interest in paying for my [expletive]. So, I wish you all were right and I was wrong. I would have had 10 times more than what I have but I buy my own stuff. It’s the sad reality of my life. Otherwise, you don’t think I would have had five cars as opposed to just one. You don’t think I would have had 30 watches. It doesn’t work like that,” Harsh Varrdhan said.
The interview further mentions the actor as saying that due to this he is looking to buy a pre-owned Lamborghini that will cost him around Rs1 crore (Rs10 million), while newer models cost around Rs3 crore (Rs30 million), adding that he believes in buying pre-owned cars.
He added: “I mean my parents will buy me a gift every once in a while. If there’s a bill that I don’t really have the capacity to pay at a certain moment in time, I’m sure they will be there. But that’s an occasional call.”
The actor also said that his choice in films did not allow him to maintain a lavish lifestyle. “[I] want to do arthouse films but want to buy Lamborghini also, it’s tough. If I was doing maybe some more mainstream stuff, I would have had it,” he said.
However, his comments haven’t gone down well with a certain section of people on social media who called out the 31-year-old over his comments, while others dropped tweets laced with sarcasm.
“Thoughts and prayers @HarshKapoor_ while most of India struggle to buy a second hand beat up [expletive] car for their family and have to give up a meal to fill petrol and cope with the cost of living crisis it’s heartbreaking and tragic you cannot afford a brand new Lamborghini,” read one tweet by a user.
Another user wrote: “Sad life of @HarshKapoor_ [broken heart emjoi] Maybe we can start a crowd funding for his car? I can feel the pain Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor!”
“We can’t fully understand the hardships a son of Bollywood celeb goes through until we hear other side of story. It’s not easy to live their life, handle their struggles. Sending more love to you Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor,” said another user.
Before ‘Thar’, Harsh Varrdhan was last seen in the Netflix anthology ‘Ray’ in the segment titled ‘Spotlight’, along with playing a role in ‘AK vs AK’, also on the streamer that starred his father in the lead role.
