Pankaj Tripathi, who has proved to be one of the most versatile actors in Bollywood today, shared his point of view on the raging debate of nepotism in the film industry. An 'outsider' himself, Tripathi said that nepotism has never bothered him.

Talking to Times of India, he said, “Nepotism have never really bothered me in any way. I have been busy working on my craft. People might think I am lying when I say that I have never felt uncomfortable in the industry. But this journey and experience have been mine so I only can say how it was so far. My truth is that I have had my share of struggles. I have worked immensely hard to bag roles in films. I have struggled for eight long years before people started recognising me.”

He further added that even though it has never happened to him, he has seen nepotism hampering others around him. He said that star kids do get opportunities quicker than others because they belong to a certain family. He also said that it does not matter if you became a recognised actor after a struggle of eight years or eight days, you cannot survive in the industry if you don't have talent. "The audience is very smart. They know who is talented and who is not,” he added.

Pankaj Tripathi was last seen in Sharan Sharma's Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl along with Janhvi Kapoor, Angad Bedi, Viineet Kumar and Manav Vij. He will be next seen in Kabir Khan's '83, a film about India's 1983 Cricket World Cup victory. The film will also star Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Saqib Saleem, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Ammy Virk, Hardy Sandhu amog others.

He will also feature in second season of crime thriller Mirzapur.