Usually when children become famous, the famous parents are known as their parents. Rarely it happens that despite a child attaining stardom the star father still retains his identity. Take the case of #ShaktiKapoor and #ShraddhaKapoor. Shakti Kapoor has been a huge star and now his daughter is a young superstar. But Shraddha, most of the time is referred to as Shakti Kapoor’s daughter and not vice versa. And she takes pride in that. Shakti Kapoor still has an aura around him and is fit even in his advanced age of 70. He doesn’t look his age which underlines a fact that he takes care of his health very well.
Shakti Kapoor was destined to become an actor. Hailing from a business family from New Delhi, Sunil Kapoor (Shakti Kapoor’s real Name) was reluctant to join the family business. He graduated from #KiroriMalCollege which boasts of names like #AmitabhBachchan, #DineshThakur (who died in 2012), #SatishKaushik (who expired just a few days ago) in it’s students list. Getting selected to #FTII (Films & Television Institute of India) was no less than a miracle. As he never was interested in a 9 to 5 job, he grabbed that God sent opportunity. And the rest is history because Shakti Kapoor has done more than ‘700’ films and is still going strong. He has also worked in #Malayalam, #Bengali, #Oriya, #Nepali, #Telugu, #Kannada, #Assamese and #Bangladeshi films. Shakti Kapoor has always avoided groupism in the film industry and believed in hard work. He never behaves churlishly. He has always been passionate about his work and maybe because of that he worked with #MithunChakraborty in 100 films and with #Jeetendra in more than 70 films. In earlier era film’s Hero-Heroine jodi used to be talking point but when Shakti Kapoor and #KaderKhan jodi got famous they got discussed even more. He has done more than 100 films with Kader Khan. Shakti Kapoor and #Govinda’s jodi too was audience’s favourite. They worked together in almost 50 films. Their last film together was Rangeela Raja which was produced and directed by #PahlajNihalani which released a year before pandemic which circumvented quite a few obstacles. Our Sr Editor Mr. Keerti Kadam, along with magazine’s Guest Editor Ms. Nisha Verma met Shakti Kapoor at his plush sea facing residence and interacted with him.
Shraddha Kapoor’s latest outing ‘Tu Jhooti Main Makkar’ has been doing good business at the box office.
What are your views on Shraddha’s ‘Tu Jhooti Main Makkar’ doing good business?
It definitely is a great feeling. It’s a good news for the film industry because it has been going through crisis and not many films are doing good business. Earlier Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan’ opened the floodgates and now ‘Tu Jhooti Main Makkar’ is getting audiences back to theatres. Though it’s a double celebration for me because it’s my daughter Shraddha’s film and secondly I am part of this beautiful industry, so I am bound to be extra happy. I am proud of my daughter and congratulate the makers, cast and crew. I hope the film does stupendous business.
What makes the film tick with audiences?
I think that you ought to make a good film. These days more thrust is given to the script. The star system is getting faded and the viewers have become ruthless. Any mediocre stuff won’t stick today with the audience. They have become very choosy now. In our times their used to be 4-5 heroes and 4-5 heroines and the entire industry used to function around them. But now the times have changed. Now the competition is huge. With the advent of television and OTT platforms audiences have huge choices to get entertained. They are exposed to everything around the world and in that case if we keep on dishing out the old stuff, they’ll not support you.
You were one of the most good looking villains Hindi film industry had…
I am still a good looking guy…(laughs)
Yes, of course, but did you not try to become a ‘Hero’ after attaining stardom?
In those days, all actors used to be a victim of typecasting. Most of them were not accepted in other roles by the then audience. Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha were established villains. They successfully transitioned to protagonist roles. I too was keen on playing protagonist in films. And I did a film as a Hero. It was ‘Zakhmi Insaan’. But unfortunately it bombed. The producer and the distributor became seriously ‘Zakhmi’. (Laughs) Then I consoled myself and started doing what I was good at, villain roles. In fact, later I realised that there’s more scope for villain’s roles.
You shifted gear and turned to comedic roles…..
Yes, I was offered Satte Pe Satta (remake of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) by Romu Sippy and I am happy that I did that film. I think it is being remade once again. But it definitely changed the course of my career. It opened other doors for me. Many filmmakers realised that I have potential to do comic roles. Mind you, comedy is the most difficult genre. Judwaa, Bol Radha Bol, Taqdeerwala, Andaz Apna Apna, Hero Hindustani, Coolie No 1, Gunda, Hungama, Chaalbaaz, there are so many of them in which I did comedic roles. Raja Babu was the icing on the cake. I received Filmfare’s Best Actor in a Comic Role award and it has very special place in my life. It so happened that, that year my mother wanted to accompany me to the Filmfare awards show. I was nominated for Raja Babu and I was continuously praying to God that I should win for the sake of my mother. She has been my support system right from the time I had decided to go to FTII. It was her dream to see her son receiving an award in front of her eyes. I profusely prayed to God and that trophy was bestowed on me that year.
Tell us about how you met Shivangi ma’am and how things got furthered….
We met, we fell in love and we got married with everybody’s blessings. It’s as simple as that. And of course we have two beautiful children. Frankly I do not talk about it.
Shraddha calls you Bapu. Anything specific on that?
She has been calling me Bapu since childhood. I do not remember anything connected to it.
You and Shraddha made a reel on ‘Thumka’, something about it….
I really loved the ‘Thumka’ song from Shraddha’s ‘Tu Jhooti Main Makkar’ and we decided to make a reel on that. I enjoy dancing and it was an impromptu dance. It went viral and has more than 3 million views.
Shraddha told me that there were 20 retakes and all were because of her and you did not complain once…
See, to get a good shot I have given 50 retakes also. So it’s a question of end product being good. I don’t agree with Shraddha that all the retakes were because of her mistake. I feel that it was a collective effort and we had fun doing it.
OTT is getting prominence these days. Have you been part of that platform?
Yes of course. A lot good stuff is being made on OTT. I did Bravehearts – The Untold Stories of Heroes. This anthology celebrates the stories of unsung heroes and their journey. I was paired with Suchitra Krishnamoorthi. I also did Parchhayee: Ghost Stories by Ruskin Bond which was premiered on the Zee5 platform. I was part of the Ashley Ka Intezar episode. At the moment I have three scripts with me, which I am going through. And If I like my role I’ll definitely do it.
Your life has been quite interesting. Any plans to write a memoir or making a biopic?
No. No. If I want to write a biography, I’ll definitely come to you. But I haven’t given a thought for biopic. I am content with my life. Mumbai has given me ‘star ki life and a beautiful wife’.
