July 18, 2017
Actor Varun Dhawan has apologised for
his "Nepotism rocks" act at the IIFA Awards in New Jersey, that created
a stir over social media last week.
Varun, son of veteran filmmaker David Dhawan, along with filmmaker
Karan Johar and actor Saif Ali Khan, sparked the controversy over the
nepotism debate at the awards gala. Later, all three of them received
flak on social media with twitteraties calling their act
"disappointing".
"I express my apology and regret... I am extremely sorry if I have
offended or hurt anyone with that act," Varun tweeted on Tuesday.
Karan and Saif, who were hosting the gala, revisited the much-talked
about nepotism issue that started in Bollywood when actress Kangana
Ranaut branded Karan as a "flagbearer of nepotism" on his chat show
"Koffee With Karan".
When Varun joined the two actors on stage at the Metlife Stadium to
receive the Best Performance in a Comic Role for "Dishoom", Saif joked
that the actor had made it big in the industry because of his father.
"You are here because of your papa," Saif quipped.
Varun said: "And you're here because of your mummy (veteran actress
Sharmila Tagore)."
Karan then promptly added: "I am here because of my papa (late
filmmaker Yash Johar)."
They then said in unison: "Nepotism rocks".
Later on, a string of criticism followed over Twitter, describing what
the personalities said was unfunny and joking about Kangana in her
absence was unfair.