Launching star kids is a tricky business. They could either soar high on their talent and win a National Award in the future like Alia Bhatt did, or they could go unnoticed. Nevertheless, the expectations from star kid debuts are always high. This is why fans were left intrigued today morning when Aamir Khan’s eldest son Junaid Khan’s debut film Maharaj was officially announced.
Mr Perfectionist’s son will be seen as a fearless journalist in this movie, which will arrive on a digital platform on June 14. As we eagerly wait to see how this project is received, here’s a look at how other star kid debut movies have fared in the past.
Student of the Year (2012)
Over a decade ago, Karan Johar introduced us to a dreamy college life with Student of the Year. Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra began their journeys as actors with this project. The film was a commercial success with a collection of ₹97-109 crore. Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter Alia and David Dhawan’s son Varun went on to make it big in the industry
Dhadak (2018)
Sridevi and Boney Kapoor’s daughter Janhvi Kapoor made her acting debut opposite Ishaan Khatter with Dhadak, backed by KJo’s Dharma Productions. The romantic film was trolled for being a ‘poor remake’ of Nagraj Manjule’s 2016 Marathi film Sairat. However, Dhadak raked in an impressive ₹110.11 crore at the box office and Janhvi managed to win hearts with her convincing performance and big bright eyes
Kedarnath (2018)
Sara Ali Khan, daughter of Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan, began her acting journey with Abhishek Kapoor’s directorial Kedarnath. Her chemistry with the supremely talented Sushant Singh Rajput was top-notch. In fact, he brought out the best in the debutante. Thanks to her impactful performance, Sara made a place in hearts as a promising rising star rather than a ‘star kid’. The film managed to collect ₹102.77 crore at the box office
Student of the Year 2 (2019)
After launching Alia and Varun along with Sidharth in SOTY, KJo introduced the world to Chunky Panday’s daughter Ananya Panday in the sequel. This film was slammed for being too cliche and bombed at the box office with a collection of ₹98.6 crore. But honestly, Ananya was fun to watch. She was convincing as a moody college girl, a spoilt brat and later a girl in love. Ample potential! Student of the Year 2 also saw Tiger Shroff and Tarar Sutaria in lead roles
The Archies (2023)
Zoya Akhtar’s teen musical comedy took the direct-to-digital route. Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan, Janhvi’s sister Khushi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda began their acting careers in Bollywood with this project. Sadly, the film as well as the star kids left audiences pretty disappointed. Fans expected much more
What are your expectations from Junaid’s debut film Maharaj?
