Meera Chopra, who has starred in several successful Tamil and Telugu films, found it difficult to replicate that success in Bollywood. The actor-producer, who happens to be Priyanka Chopra and Parineeti Chopra’s second cousin, recently shared the challenges she faced while tying to break into the Hindi film industry, and said that she considers herself an outsider.

Talking about her equation with Priyanka, Meera told Hitflik, “Our fathers are first cousins. We were a very close knit family when we were young. Very middle class. When we were small, nobody really thought that we will get into the glamour field. When Priyanka made her breakthrough, she paved the way for us all. Otherwise, I feel, back then, the middle class never considered cinema as profession. People didn’t think beyond doctors and engineers.”

Meera, who marked her acting debut with the 2005 Tamil film Anbe Aaruyire, recalled her successful career and said, “In the South, I never went out and looked for work. I was not even interested in the South because I am a very North Indian Punjabi girl. The language was always an issue for me. Every movie I did there, I told myself, ‘This will be my last film’. Yet, I ended up doing about 25 films. It was because they were offering me work and the money they gave was so tempting.”

However, Meera’s journey was not as easy in Bollywood, where she had to start from scratch. She said, “I have heard stories of people who have been dying to work down South meeting the wrong people. I never faced that; in fact, I faced this in Bollywood. Here, I was going out and looking for work. I never got work served on a platter.”

She added, “Its a little scary to start with. Its a very close knit industry. A lot of people don’t know what goes inside. Nobody knows where to start. When I came here, I didn’t know if I need to meet a certain director, and how I need to go about it. Nobody shares their numbers, and even if they do, the person never replies to your messages.”

ALSO READ | Vettaiyan movie review: TJ Gnanavel’s take on encounter killings is burdened by predictability and the weight of Rajinikanth’s superstardom

Meera said that she let go of her ‘ego and attitude’ when she decided to look for work in the Hindi industry. “I came from a very successful career, and I had the confidence that I will be able to make it. When you come from a successful career in one industry, it becomes difficult to start from scratch in another,” shared Meera.

She recalled, “In the beginning, I was told, ‘You have to network, you have to go to parties, you have to make your own connections’, which now I know is very important because this industry is like a cult. There are many different cults in this industry, and you have to be a part of one group so that you keep getting work from that group. It still happens that way. In this industry, you get work if you are friends with the right people. It’s much easier. To prove your worth takes much longer time and struggle.”

Meera said that she didn’t pay attention to networking, which is why her journey became quite difficult. She said that things would have been different if she was an insider. “I would have done over 20 films even if I didn’t have the talent.” The actor claimed that Bollywood is flooded with average star kids who don’t have the calibre to pull off the kind of roles that they are offered. She said, “It’s not an issue when an actor’s kid wants to become an actor. It is a problem when an actor’s kid is not skilled and yet given project after project, and because of this, an outsider loses work.”

She recalled an incident from her career, where she lost roles to star kids. “A lot of times, I have given auditions for several roles, which I don’t give anymore because I have lost faith in it. It happens that you audition for a role, and a month later you are informed the role has gone to somebody who belongs to the industry. It has become a rampant practice.”

She concluded, “Right now, the industry is flooded with star kids, and sorry to say, they are very average. Except Alia (Bhatt), I don’t see anybody having the calibre to do the kind of work they are doing. They are getting work only because they are born and raised in this industry. Will anybody bet on a outsider after four flops? No.”

Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.