Here’s Anil Kapoor unplugged – candid and very very lovable…
Anil Kapoor was a delight to talk to. The actor had an easy breezy air about him. Despite being such a senior accomplished star, the actor’s down-to-earth attitude and infectious energy stayed with me much after I finished this interview. He certainly is a child at heart and that literally comes across in his conversations. His smile that reaches right up to his eyes will make you smile back in return. He enjoys his compliments, but understands his shortcomings. Here’s Anil Kapoor unplugged – candid and very very lovable…
Some people age like fine wine and there are others who get finer but refuse to age and I have one such person with me and that is Anil Kapoor. My editor wanted to know what is the secret behind your ever youth looks?
I think somewhere there is no formula to it. I feel I am sort of blessed with a genetic quality and I would thank my father and my mother and my grandparents you know who somewhere gave me, I came from a family tree which was healthy and happy people and innocent people. So that innocence and that honesty and it is coming from there. So I would like to give credit to my ancestors.
And happiness.
Yes and happiness.
Being happy is very important…
I know. You have to work towards it you know. Life is all about trying to find the right things which make you happy. And there are certain people who work towards being unhappy. They love it. Some people love that depression. I work towards what is that and I am always learning. I am trying to think about different things and different people and some people make you happy. So I try to find such people that this person will make me laugh or I will learn something from him. I have got a great family, some good friends, done some good work and hope to do some good work in the future also.
But one thing you have to take credit for is the fact that even in today’s time, almost four decades in the industry when a film comes out however young the actor is the movie always remains an Anil Kapoor film and same holds true for Mubarakan.
No, that is not true. I have done so many films where you know I am part of those films.
And still you stand out.
No, there are certain films where I have not stood out also. But it is fine. There are certain films where you know the characters are such but I never really go into a film that it is only I me myself. It is the overall film because everybody works then I work. Because if only I work the film doesn’t work, so it is very important for everybody to work. So I think that has always been my way of doing things. If you see both the Races (films), Race 1 and Race 2, if you see Mission Impossible, of you see Karma, so many films I have done where I am just part of an ensemble. But it is great fun doing that also because they were usually successful. And what you have to pray to God is that picture should work. Nothing succeeds like success. So that is very important and you alone cannot do that. So you need that and I am not trying to be humble but I mean what I say. I am not trying to make very diplomatic answers.
This makes so much sense. If one person stands out and the others don’t…
Yes sometimes when people go and see the film they like that character, sometimes they don’t. So that is part of life. I am happy if someone praises me, who is not happy. And sometimes if they criticise me I take it positively and try to improve myself. So that has been my career and fingers crossed I will try and maintain it. So, yes it has been great.
You are working for the first time with Arjun Kapoor, what exactly got you to say yes to Mubarakan?
Mubarakan the whole team is a mix of experience, it is a mix of youth and technicians and actors, producers, the studio. Everything just fell in place in this film. I think that is what is great about this film. Because like there is Athiya, Illeana, Arjun, there are a lot of young actors. There are great actors like Ratna (Pathak Shah), Pawan Malhotra, so it is a great mix. And there is Anees Bazmee, who has got a great track record. Not only that he has a track record he has been fortunate he has given blockbusters and people have loved his films. He is a good guy and a good human being and his writing is so fantastic. He is a great writer. It is the first time after a long time that he is working in a film where you know he is there as a writer also, but he is there more as a director also and there is another writer whose story I heard and whose screenplay I heard and I felt that if this has Anees Bazmee, Arjun Kapoor, Athiya, Illeana and music is good, then everything fell in place.
Weddings can be a little crazy. Do you have any real life memory of a wedding where…
The best wedding I remember, which was not crazy but a lot of fun was Raj Kapoor’s eldest daughter’s wedding. I was a kid and I was there at that wedding and who’s who from the world was there and every Indian star was there from south India, from Bengal, from Mumbai, everybody was there, politicians and there were fights happening. So I remember that wedding very well. That is the best wedding experience of my life. And this film has got everything. it has got celebration, there are engagements, there are ring ceremonies.
Mubarakan is crazy!
And it has got two characters, Karan and Charan so more weddings and more engagements and more fun. The preparation , the fights, the conflict, what food should be there, which alcohol should be there, what do we give them, there is a lot of give and take in Punjabi weddings. Of course, in weddings you need a lot of planning in engagements also and all those celebrations and a lot of hard work goes into that. There are times where everything goes chaotic and people who are doing it are very serious but outsiders will find it very funny. So that is what Mubarakan is. We all are real. We don’t know things are going wrong. People are looking at us and going crazy looking at us. Hopefully people find the entertainment, which we feel is funny. It is there in the film. There is something, I have been working for so many years and Anees saab is there and I feel we have hit the bulls eye.
Is it true you pick up a memento from every film set. Tell us what did you take from Mubarakan sets?
Don’t tell anybody, lot of things. (Laughs)
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