Mumbai: Varun Dhawan believes the nepotism debate started by Kangana Ranaut is right to a certain extent but has now been blown out of proportion by others. Earlier this year, the "Queen" star had called filmmaker Karan Johar the "flag-bearer of nepotism" on his chat show, stoking a major controversy.  

The matter escalated further at an award function when Varun along with hosts for the event, Johar and Saif Ali Khan, chanted "nepotism rocks". The trio was criticised on social media for the joke made at the expense of the actor and had to eventually apologise for the same. 

When asked about Kangana's accusation that Johar has only launched "star kids", Varun, son of filmmaker David Dhawan, said, "Who all has he launched by now? They're all star kids right? Then it's not an accusation, it's the truth..."  

"To a certain extent what she (Kangana) is saying is right. I think this matter was blown up. She was just trying to get a point across. She wanted to say it in her own way but people stretched it too much."   The actor was in conversation with journalist Mayank Shekhar at the Jagran Cinema Summit here last evening.  

Varun said Johar had launched a lot of star kids but he had also launched many filmmakers who had no film connections. "Karan has also launched a lot of directors like Shashank Khaitan, who is a very dear friend of mine. He is from Nashik and had nothing to do with a film family. He gave a script to Karan, who believed in his dreams. 

"Karan had also made 'Gippy' where he launched a girl... Even Sidharth (Malhotra) isn't from the industry." PTI