A special connect: Anil Kapoor reveals his ‘emotional hook’ with Manmohan Desai
Anil Kapoor has been one of Bollywood’s leading men for 35 long years (after debuting with Woh 7 Din; 1983). But the actor readily admits that besides his artistic sensibilities, he has always sworn by the “emotional hook” when it comes to hoosing his films. He says, An emotional hook can come rom anything — your arents, brother, children, iends or even a film-maker. or instance, when I did eewana Mastana (1997), my motional hook was the late anmohan Desai. He wanted to do a film together, but fortunately, he passed ay. So, when I was doing ewana Mastana, I was like, anmohanji should feel we ve made a good film’.” The Fanney Khan actor has the same ‘emotional hook’ other projects too. “When I (the TV show) 24, I did it for country, so that Indians d be like, ‘Oh, he is an an actor who is working ad’. So, the hard work and passion for cinema is there, but you have to also find an emotional hook,” he says.
In fact, Kapoor is also happy with his son Harshvardhan Kapoor’s film choices. “If you look at Harsh’s choices, he is constantly trying to improve his craft and become a better actor rather than trying to become a bigger star right at the start. Agar star banna aapke naseeb mein ho toh ho jaayega apne aap. When I did films with MS Sathyu (Kahan Kahan Se Guzar Gaya; 1981), Bapu (Woh 7 Din; 1983) and Mani Ratnam (Pallavi Anu Pallavi; 1983), all the movies got critical acclaim but maybe, they weren’t as successful commercially,” he says.
Recalling his initial days in the industry, Kapoor says he tried to spread the word in the industry that he was a good actor. “So, people started recommending here and there. I remember meeting so many film-makers such as Mahesh Bhatt, JP Dutta and even Shyam Benegal. Even when I was in Kolkata, shooting for Sathyu’s film, I met Mrinal Sen thinking I would get some work in his films,” he says.