JOIN USShe is the quintessential fashion diva of Bollywood. Sonam Kapoor is known more for her choice of couture than for her big screen roles. Rajiv Vijayakar talks to the actress about her latest release ‘ Khoobsurat’ & more...
Sonam Kapoor’s career commercially went on a roll only from last year with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, which joined the 100-crore club, and the decent success Raanjhanaa. The daughter of Anil Kapoor, who had always considered Rekha as one of her iconic idols, was then entrusted the role of her millennium counterpart in Khoobsurat, the 2014 remake of the iconic Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic, Khubsoorat.
Anil Kapoor Film Company’s new film, also co-produced by Sonam’s younger sister Rhea, has hit the big screen, and the effervescent Sonam is upbeat about it and her career in general.
Staying in character
With her crystal-clear tenor and tinkling laugh, Sonam says, “Frankly, I was apprehensive when my sister Rhea had this idea and when she developed the script with our director, Shashanka Ghosh. But after they completed work on it, I realised that our film was different, though with the same basic premise.”
Calling the film “a beautiful love story between two opposites,” Sonam stresses that the message is that a girl does not have to be perfect to find her Prince Charming. “So, though comparisons cannot be avoided, I am relieved that I am not stepping into Rekhaji’s shoes, because they are big shoes to fill,” she says seriously.
The quirky humour of the film, she feels, works well for audiences between the ages of six and 60-plus. “My director Shashanka is tangential and more than a bit mad,” she gleefully chortles. “He has given the film a great twist.”
She would rather let the audience decide on her chemistry with leading man Fawad Khan, but calls him a talented actor about whom all girls are lattoo (crazy). “And Fawad is easy, professional, soft-spoken, and a complete gentleman minus any hang-ups,” she elaborates.
Khoobsurat has Sonam playing a free-spirited physiotherapist who is half-Punjabi and half-Bengali and believes in living life to the full. When she lands up at the palace to treat a king with a knee problem, she realises that his ailment is psychosomatic and that he does not want to get well simply because there is nothing to look forward to in life for him. “I correctly diagnose that it is his depressing environment that needs correction. And I set about making his life beautiful,” says Sonam.
We move on to another aspect of the actor — her known and regular tendency to be as frank as to be politically-incorrect, thus landing in controversies. Quite nonchalantly, she asks, “Do you see anything wrong in that? I do not. I think all girls should be bindaas (fearless) and not change for anyone. They should live for themselves and not forcibly conform to societal norms of skin, dress, body, figure, academic degree and so on, which so many women in India are forced to do.”
Foot-in-mouth
Charged with a rare passion on the subject, Sonam gets voluble: “I also wonder why such frankspeak reflects upon an actress when so many of our heroes get away with strong opinions. I personally feel that if out of a hundred girls, even a couple get courage from the fact that because Sonam Kapoor speaks like this, they too can stand up to their in-laws, boyfriends, husbands and so on, I am doing the right thing.”
Multifaceted Sonam has, despite her limited box-office standing before 2013, also been rightly considered a fashion icon from the beginning. So we move to ask about her take on fashion.
“I follow old-time Indian and Hollywood actresses more, like Meena Kumariji and Nutanji, who incidentally was the first to wear trousers in films. Meenaji loved authenticity so much that I have heard that she even used genuine old-fashioned ittar (perfumes) in those little glass bottles for an authentic touch as a courtesan in Pakeezah. Similarly, even in the black-and-white era, Madhubalaji wore genuine chiffon sarees with black piping. I also love Sharmila Tagoreji and Sadhanaji. From Hollywood, I love Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and others.”
We enquire about the quirky butterfly-shaped lenses she is sporting and Sonam agrees that they too are retro. “But I am wearing these glasses only because my eyes become dry with repeated eye make-up during promotions, so lenses would carry a high risk of infection. And without eyewear, I, like love, am blind,” she laughs.
Her mood is so upbeat that we boldly venture into the terrain of the frenzied film promotion happening around. “See, we must make our identity and impact amidst the competition today,” she replies evenly. “As a producer, I completely understand the need for all this madness, which was not a requirement even when I joined the industry eight years ago, though it may be tiresome for all actors, including me. We have to repeat the same answers to the same questions, but when people have short attention spans, cannot tolerate films longer than two hours, and have to deal with so many films coming up in a month, do we have any choice?”
On Salman
Sonam has bagged Sooraj Barjatya’s new film with her father’s great friend Salman Khan, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, which had many other contenders. Has she shot with him, and how was the experience after their limited interaction in Saawariya, her debut film?
“Of course, we have shot together for a month. And the experience has been amazing,” she says. Sonam then begins to enumerate her co-star’s good qualities: “Salman has a high emotional quotient, is never rude, never says anything detrimental, and is always kind, gentle, affectionate to all, and extremely intelligent and hardworking. He is always punctual, knows all his lines back and forth, which means he does a lot of homework, and is one of the best actors I have worked with.”
Eulogy over, we ask her if such a film and title will connect in 2015? Isn’t it a classic Rajshri Productions family drama that worked best in the ‘90s and earlier?
“How do you say that? Aren’t all the television serials working? Look, India is still about family culture, though some of us have become westernised. And the women in Soorajji’s films are always strong characters. As for me, I became nostalgic, because I have grown up on Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun!...,” she says decisively.