Anil Kapoor's age is reflected in his bony hands. The 66-year-old actor doesn’t go for a handshake but a fistbump when I meet him for a chat. An enthusiastic young man’s greeting. He calls 2023 as his 40th year of recognition in cinema. His official filmography goes way back to 1971 which had Tu Payal Main Geet, an unreleased film, in which he essayed the role of a young Shashi Kapoor.
The one, he considers, put him on the map came in 1983. Woh Saat Din, directed by Bapu and produced by Anil’s father Surinder Kapoor and brother Boney Kapoor, saw him breakout in the role of an eclectic musician. The actor, over the decades, did varied roles in genres spanning actioners, crime-thrillers and comedies.
What has remained constant is his chevron stash, except in Lamhe (1991) and in Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate (1988) where he decided to go clean-shaven. “No director asked me to. It was my decision,” he clarifies. Although once, late director-producer Manmohan Desai (Amar Akbar Anthony, 1977, Coolie, 1983) told him that a moustachioed actor can never be a star. “Not a big star, he had said,” adds Anil. “But Raj Kapoor and Charlie Chaplin always sported facial hair, who can be bigger than Chaplin?”
Currently, the actor is gearing up for Part 2 of his OTT debut The Night Manager, upcoming is Animal with Ranbir Kapoor and Fighter with Hrithik Roshan. We speak to him about feeling nervous on set, how he uses his own clothes to make a character and if he has a retirement plan.
Your character Shailendra Rungta in The Night Manager is based on arms trafficker Richard Onslow Roper in the John Le Carre book of the same name. Carre has described Roper as “the worst man in the world”. How did you go about playing such an extreme antagonist?
That’s the tough part, to play a guy who has been described in such an extremity. It was very tricky. There were a lot of advantages though; there was already a British series starring Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston, then there was the book, so I had a lot to take from. But I won’t take credit for all of it. I was backed up with a very talented team and director (Sandeep Modi). I just gave my best shot.
Since you mentioned the British series, a lot of actors doing adaptations say that they don’t watch the original lest it would influence their performance and to avoid imitation, do you feel the same way?
I think Hugh Laurie’s (the actor plays Roper in the British series) personality is very different from mine. His mannerisms, dialect and the way he talks are also very dissimilar and it is not possible to get influenced. Definitely, one can get inspired but if I try to imitate the original, I would look like a fool. The British series actually serves as a great reference point. If some scenes are not working, one can go and see it and observe how it is done. So, whoever doing adaptations says that they haven’t watched the original and have built their character from scratch are lying.
Is it true you came up with your character’s name, Shailendra Rungta?
Actually, Shailendra or Shelly, like he is sometimes called in the show, was already set. I just added the surname, Rungta. I just felt it has got a ring to it. It gave some weight to the character.
You have played Rungta like a Bond villain with a rather eclectic wardrobe, there are long overcoats and also those beachy shirts…
One of them I borrowed from Harsh (his son, actor Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor). The creamish shirt that I am wearing in the scene where I am showing the kids an ancient Egyptian game of three cups and a ball, that’s his (laughs). I often use clothes from my own wardrobe for a series or a film. The green one with prints that I have worn in the show was gifted to me by my daughter. Another off-white apparel, which is somewhere between a coat and a shirt, I bought from Dehradun from a very small boutique. Whenever I am developing a character, my eyes and ears are always open, looking for inspiration. It can come in the form of anything, clothes, shoes, watches, even jewellery. There is this particular silver chain that I donned in the series… I bought it from Munich.
Sounds like you travel a lot, do you like travelling?
Who doesn’t? (laughs)
Where do you like going?
Frankly, wherever my wife wants to go.
You recently put up an Instagram post on completing 40 years in films. I am reminded of your Hindi lead debut in Woh Saat Din (1983)…
My debut as a leading man was for a Telugu film Vamsa Vruksham (1980, directed by Bapu), then I played a lead again in a Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi (1983, debut directorial of Mani Ratnam). A lot of people have this misconception that my Hindi lead debut was Woh Saat Din, it was actually M S Sathyu’s Kahan Kahan Se Guzar Gaya. This was the time of my struggle and a lot of my films went unnoticed. Woh Saat Din actually gave me recognition.
Woh Saat Din had seasoned actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Padmini Kolhapure, did you feel nervous?
I think the only time I felt nervous was while working on Shakti (1982). I only had one scene in the film but that too opposite Dilip Kumar. Smita Patil was also in the scene and Ramesh Sippy (director of Sholay, 1975) was behind the camera along with Amitabhji (Bachchan) observing me. I was extremely nervous because if I screwed up that one scene, there wasn’t any other to better my performance. I was more confident when I did Woh Saat Din because I knew my character well and had worked on it. For films like Mashaal (1984) and Woh Saat Din, I knew the script backwards but for the scene in Shakti, I had got the lines the morning of shoot itself. Nobody bothered to give the script beforehand to a newcomer. It went well but I had to do some retakes for that scene.
Mashaal gave you your first award, what memories do you have of the film?
Mashaal was a turning point in my life. Woh Saat Din earned me a lot of love from the audience and it was fairly successful but Mashaal, despite not doing well commercially, made me an A-grade hero. I remember when the film was released, I was featured in a cover of a magazine and the headline read, ‘A Star Is Born.’
You have always described yourself as somebody who toils hard, but has there ever been a time when you felt that your struggles are not bearing fruit?
I never had long lull periods in my career. It was maximum for two to three days. I have constantly been working. But before Woh Saat Din yes, I did feel demotivated at times. I thought “people are still giving me small roles”. I even considered becoming a screenwriter.
You are tireless but still, is there any retirement plan for Anil Kapoor?
Not really. I think that’s the advantage of acting, if you take care of yourself physically and mentally, you can work till your last breath.
The Night Manager Part 2 premieres on June 30 on Disney+ Hotstar
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