Janhvi Kapoor, who made her debut in 2018 with Dhadak, has been in the spotlight throughout the year—thanks to multiple film releases and Homebound becoming India’s official entry to the Oscars. Ever since her debut, which came just months after the death of her mother, Sridevi, Janhvi has consistently taken up projects that push her as an actor —be it Gunjan Saxena, Good Luck Jerry, Mili, or Mr and Mrs Mahi. Yet for the longest time, she felt that despite the opportunities and fame, she still hadn’t earned people’s respect. That, she now says, has changed.
In 2023, during an interview with Barkha Dutt for Mojo Story, Janhvi had confessed that she craved respect. In her recent appearance on the same show, she shared how her perspective has evolved. She now firmly believes that “nobody will respect you until you respect yourself.”
“Over the past couple of years, one thing I have learnt for sure is that unless you respect yourself, nobody else will,” she said. “Fame came easy to me because of whose daughter I am. So I never felt that I wanted eyeballs or reach—I got all of that anyway. I was just waiting for the day someone walked up to me and said, ‘I respect you.’ But honestly, until you recognise your own skill set and what you bring to the table, nobody else will.”
Janhvi noted that, especially for women, the desire for external validation can feel hardwired. “When you enter a workspace and are told how to feel about yourself, you need to decide on your own: I believe in myself. Everything else follows. So now I don’t know if people outside respect me or not—I am just trying to do my work. I have learnt to respect myself, and I know that when I come to set, I know my job. Others respect me for that and listen to what I have to say.”
She added that being a people-pleaser often feels like an occupational hazard.
“It’s a consequence of my job, where we want others to like us. But as an artiste, as a human being, and as a citizen of this country, I am curious about so much more than just being liked. It’s okay if not everyone is a fan of my work or supports everything I say or do. My agenda is to work with honesty and to keep searching for what will make me a better artiste and a better citizen.”
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In the same interview, the 28-year-old actress revisited the painful period following her mother’s death—an experience she saw reduced to insensitive jokes and memes online, all just months before her debut.
“The phase I went through then is something I will never be able to fully verbalise,” she said. “Even if I told you everything, I don’t know if anyone would relate. I am always conscious about sounding like I am saying things to make people feel bad for me, so I refrain a little.”
She continued, “I know everyone wants a headline, and I would hate to sound like I am using such a painful part of my life—or my relationship with my mother—for that. So that always holds me back.”
Recalling what she calls the darkest phase of her life, Janhvi condemned the voyeurism of today’s media landscape.
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“The voyeuristic nature of journalism, media culture, and social media has single-handedly contributed to the derailment of human morality. When I lost my mom, it was horrible. I don’t know if anyone can imagine how it feels to lose someone so close and then watch it become a meme. I don’t even know how to compute it. And it’s only gotten worse. We saw what happened with Dharam ji. It’s happened repeatedly before and will only keep happening. And we are part of the problem—every time we give such videos or headlines views, comments, likes, we incentivise this culture.”
Calling the situation “depressing,” she added, “Humanity and morality are in shambles. Earlier, we had a conscience that stopped us from seeing certain things, saying certain things, indulging in certain practices. That’s out the window now. It’s disgusting that our modern-day crisis is the loss of morality because everything has become so voyeuristic.”
Because of the ruthless and insensitive coverage of Sridevi’s death, the then 20-year-old Janhvi was temporarily banned from watching television.
“I wasn’t allowed to watch TV for a lot of that phase, but things still keep coming up. It hurt me as a daughter, and it was confusing. I don’t think I will ever recover from it. But my anger wasn’t just as a daughter—it was about what we, as a society, have become. Why does anyone think this is okay?”
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She concluded by expressing shock at the lack of self-reflection despite public criticism of media ethics.
