When Saif Ali Khan said producers make a genetic bet on star kids: ‘Sometimes genes pass on, sometimes they don’t’

Saif Ali Khan has never denied coming from a privileged section of society. The actor is the son of cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and actor Sharmila Tagore and the heir of the Pataudi clan. He was once asked about his comments on the privileged and the relevance of genes. Also read: Kunal Kemmu and Saif Ali Khan stare at last samosa’ of their Raksha Bandhan party in hilarious picture

Saif had landed into a controversy when he, along with Karan Johar and Varun Dhawan, had screamed “nepotism rocks” at an award event in 2017. Later, Saif had written an open letter in which he talked about nepotism and its relation with genetics and eugenics.

On being asked about the same during an interview with NDTV, Saif had said, “People have to understand, most people don’t understand what I kind of said. Film producers would take a bet on star children, making some sort of bet that this kid will know what his dad knows. You think of Amitabh Bachchan’s son or Dharmendra’s son, maybe history will repeat itself. So they are making a genetic bet, that’s what I am thinking. Rather than making a bet on just talent, they assume the son will have the talent. Sometimes genes pass on, sometimes they don’t.”

Giving his own example, he added, “Tiger Pataudi’s father was an amazing cricketer, Tiger Pataudi was a better cricketer – genetic brilliance. Then I came along, I couldn’t play cricket like that. So I don’t know how you explain these things.”

As the video from the 2018 interview was shared on Reddit, some disagreed while some agreed with Saif’s opinion. A user Reddit wrote in his support, “Genes play a critical role in work-related behaviours and therefore can play an important in our career choices.” Another said, “They actually do. And don’t abuse him when he didn’t mean any offence by what he said. At least he’s aware that nepotism exists and it isn’t working.”

A user who disagreed with Saif, wrote, “He’s wrong, the producers aren’t making a bet that the ‘acting’ genes are passed along rather they are capitalizing on the popularity of the star kids. Star kids are made popular as soon as they are born and now with social media, all of them have some sort of fan following even before launch. So for a producer the choice between a no one and a star kid becomes pretty obvious since the star kid will guarantee extra publicity.