Anil meets Anil, at Madame Tussauds

They say everything happens at the right time. For Anil Kapoor, this is absolutely true. A Bollywood superstar in his youth, an international actor in his mature years, and now a new entrant to the club of mega-celebrities who have their wax statues at Madame Tussauds — Anil probably never had it better in his 38-year career. And he knows it.

“If [the wax figure] had happened within the first 10-20 years of my career, I may not have valued such things, as there’s an arrogance of youth,” he says. “[At that time], you’re like, ‘Arrey, theek hai yaar. I deserve it.’ But I haven’t got anything in life only due to my good fortune or others’ good wishes. I have put in a lot of blood, sweat and hard work into everything. That gives a different kind of thrill,” he says, smiling.

About the process of getting a wax statue, he says, “It takes about 8-10 months. The day you pose for the statue is a very intense day, as they go in for lots of detailing. The way the statue has been finally made is very real. Even my make-up person, Deepika, who has been with me for 30-35 years, took a lot of interest [in it] and worked on details, in terms of my skin tone and even a single strand of my stubble.” Anil says that the statue, to be displayed at Madame Tussauds in Singapore, captures his iconic pose from the film Slumdog Millionaire.

The talk of cinema veers to the recent National Film Awards honour for his daughter, Sonam Kapoor, for her role in Neerja. Anil says with pride that it was “a much better and bigger moment for me than this wax statue of mine”.

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/ANILSKAPOOR