Govinda’s daughter, Tina Ahuja, has said that she has never taken any professional help from him. She added that she has been offered films on her own merit and cannot be denounced as a ‘nepo-kid’.

Tina made her Bollywood debut in 2015 with Smeep Kang’s Second Hand Husband, opposite Gippy Grewal. The film, which also starred Geeta Basra and Dharmendra, was a box office dud.

In an interview to a national daily, Tina said that Govinda never tried to use his influence to get her film offers. She said that if she were a product of nepotism, she ‘would have signed 30-40 films already’.

“That’s the one thing that dad has not done so far and I have never asked him to. The day I feel that I need something, he is always there, but I can never be called a nepo-kid; I have got all my movies on my merit. I got all the offers on my own; he never had to help me. But he was aware of what I was doing or not doing. He still gets a report of everything that I am doing, but that doesn’t mean that he will interfere in my work. Dad has never called up anyone to get me a movie, so I can't be called a nepo-kid,” she said.

However, Govinda is keen on producing a film for Tina and has told her so on several occasions. “He is always very supportive of my work. So let's see, maybe in the future, we might do that as well,” she said.

Govinda gained popularity as a comic star in the 1990s. He witnessed a rough patch in his career in the early 2000s but bounced back with Bhagam Bhaag (2006) and Partner (2007). He was last seen in a double role in Rangeela Raja, which released in 2019, but was a critical and commercial failure.

(With inputs from agencies)