Bollywood’s obsession with star kids isn’t new. Nepotism is deeply rooted in the industry and is in the spotlight once again with filmmaker R. Balki’s insensitive statement. When asked about nepotism in an interview and the advantages star kids enjoy, the Padman director merely said that there were no better actors than Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor in the industry to begin with. 

“Find me a better actor than Alia or Ranbir, and we’ll argue. It’s unfair on these few people who’re probably some of the finest actors.”

And while we do think that these two are fine actors, there are others who shouldn’t be disregarded just because of their surname. It is undoubtedly difficult for those who don’t have parents or family from the industry to make a mark, and it only gets worse if filmmakers begin to justify their actions this way. So here are 51 actors in the industry who are equally good, if not better than these two. 

1. Neena Gupta 

2. Jaideep Ahlawat

3. Pankaj Tripathi

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4. Manoj Bajpai

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5. Jitendra Kumar

6. RajKummar Rao

7. Vineet Kumar Singh

8. Sohum Shah

9. Randeep Hooda

10. Vinay Pathak

11. Vidya Balan

12. Kangana Ranaut 

13. Radhika Apte 

14. Vijay Raaz

15. Richa Chadha

16. Kay Kay Menon

17. Ayushmann Khurrana

18. Sanjay Mishra 

19. Siddhant Chaturvedi

20. Taapsee Pannu 

21. Aparshakti Khurana

22. Rahul Bose

23. Avinash Tiwary

24. Anushka Sharma

25. Sobhita Dhulipala

26. Kalki Koechlin

27. Jim Sarbh

28. Vikrant Massey

29. Sushmita Sen

30. Seema Pahwa

31. Ratna Pathak Shah

32. Priyanka Chopra 

33. Tripti Dimri

34. Gajraj Rao

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35. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub

36. Swara Bhasker

37. Kumud Mishra

38. Abhishek Banerjee

39. Naseeruddin Shah

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40. Supriya Pathak

41. Deepak Dobriyal

42. Pankaj Kapur

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43. Rasika Dugal

44. Kubbra Sait

45. Nawazuddin Siddiqui

46. Shashank Arora

47. Gulshan Devaiah

48. Adil Hussain

49. Manav Kaul

50. Jimmy Sheirgill

51. Neeraj Kabi

Which actor do you think deserves more credit?