The nepotism debate has captured the nation’s collective consciousness for many years. There is hardly any platform that has not been discussed, debated and contested. The latest battleground is the Bigg Boss 19 house, where singer and composer Amal Malik, Son of Daboo Malik and brother of playback singer Armaan MalikHe faced criticism from fellow contestants for his understanding of the “struggle”. The conversation started when Amal accused fellow contestant Gaurav Khanna of “playing a character” throughout the reality show.
Gaurav did not take the comment lightly, replying sharply: “You are playing your character; everyone is playing a character. He thinks everyone is playing a character, just as we all think he himself is playing the character of a solo musician talking about his struggles.” He continued, “If he thinks he’s a musician, and music is on his mind 24 x 7, I wouldn’t tell him he’s playing a character.” Amal responded emphatically: “That’s your opinion if you think I’m trying to exaggerate my struggle.” He also referred to an earlier incident in the show, where he mentioned traveling to New Zealand to meet his aunt when he was feeling down, only for Gaurav to make fun of it: “When I just said my aunt is in New Zealand, he said we can’t even get to where your struggle begins.”
Gaurav then highlighted the inherent privilege enjoyed by Amal and his brother, saying, “Earlier, he said his brother waited for eight hours to meet Salman Khan, so I just said that after eight hours, he has the potential to meet him. Even if we stand for 20 years, we may not get the opportunity.” Amal agreed and admitted, “That’s right. I always said I had my foot in the door. But, just like the average person waits outside the studio, my mother and brother waited too; it didn’t make any difference.” However, Gaurav hit back, arguing that Salman Khan met them because he already knows them. Amal responded firmly, saying: “He was going to meet an unknown person as well, namely Salman Khan.”
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In her defense, Amal explained, “My brother walked in the door not because of anyone, but because he waited there. No one knew my brother. I used to ask him every day: ‘Arman, what happened?’ He would tell me that he was trying his luck everywhere. He tried every management so he could meet someone. Despite being from a musical family, he got into a reality show and was not treated differently. “You are from a musical family. You will get more opportunities in the future. He did his first song when he was 11 in the film Bhootnath. So it’s not like we didn’t face a struggle. The four of us were living as a family in a rented house, and we didn’t even have money to pay the rent.”
This is not the first time that Amal has faced criticism in the Bigg Boss 19 house for equating her privilege with struggle. Previously, Racer Praneet More had mocked him for visiting his aunt in New Zealand“The life of the rich,” he said. “We used to go to Shirdi.” Gaurav added, “I compare it to my trip. If I have to visit my aunt, she lives in Kanpur.”
(Tags for translation)Bigg Boss 19
