He's still got it!

timeless appeal

Bole to jhakaas! The words, the typical swag, the lopsided saunter, the hirsute face and the red unbuttoned shirt knotted at the bottom with a yellow vest peeping out!

It’s been more than three decades, but the man who doesn’t seem to age at all still holds sway on this style: the tapori ishtyle! Shah Rukh Khan copied him in the film Josh, Aamir Khan in Rangeela, Sanjay Dutt in Vaastav: The Reality and Munna Bhai MBBS, and even youngsters Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in Besharam and Gunday respectively. Why, even Vidya Balan copied him in Bobby Jasoos.

Everywhere he goes (stage shows, TV shows, premieres, talk shows), though he is immaculately attired in fitting, matching suits (typical James Bond style), he is asked to dance to ‘Eji, oji, loji sunoji… my name is Lakhan’ from his 1989 film Ram Lakhan. The tapori style, the typical Bombaiyya way of speaking a mixture of Hindi-Marathi-Gujarati-Punjabi-Bihari language, used mostly by street-smart boys, got an iconic recognition when the character of Lakhan in the film became popular.

Chuckling softly, superstar Anil Kapoor admits, “Some characters and dialogues become immensely popular. And every time there is a demand, and luckily for me, even after more than 25 years of the film, the demands haven’t diminished. I enjoy dancing to this song and saying jhakaas!’’

‘Filmy’ influence

From his first film as the lead in Woh Saat Din (1983), where he was pitted against the powerhouse of talent, Naseeruddin Shah, he impressed everyone. In fact, he never shied away from working with the other greats of the film industry. He got to share screen space with none other than Dilip Kumar in the film Mashaal (1984), for which he won the best supporting actor award. “In our days, we didn’t plan our career as the present generation does. Today, they are very professional, which is very good. They know what they want and even know how to get it,’’ observes the man who will be turning 60 this month.

Anil Kapoor is the best person to observe the changes in the film industry. Belonging to a filmy family, his father Surinder Kapoor was a film producer. In fact, Woh Saat Din was produced by him. His elder brother Boney Kapoor gave him the famous film Mr. India, which was a super hit. Now, his daughter Sonam and son Harshvardhan have entered the industry. His second daughter Rhea is also associated with the industry as a film producer. “Even my children are very professional. Like the others of their ilk, even they do only one film at a time. We did four to five films at a time and also worked in shifts. We rarely took a vacation or a break. It was only work, work and more work. I am happy to see the present generation going about their work very methodically and preparing for their roles well in advance,” says the actor who has worked in close to 100 films and is still going strong.

Anil is also bowled over by the fact that method acting is being appreciated and written about at present. “During our time, though many of us were method actors, and took pain to prepare both mentally and physically for the role, it was rarely written about. But now the preparation by an actor gets noticed and gets written about.’’ Anil is also amazed at the amount of money and time spent in promoting a film. During his time, he says, hardly any buzz was created prior to the release of a film. “We didn’t even spend so much time in promoting a film,’’ he admits.  

Anil Kapoor is one who adapts to changes very easily. He never shied away from acting in double-hero films (Andar Baahar, Ram Lakhan) or multi-star films (Karma, No Entry), nor did he reject acting in female-dominated films (Taal, Lajja). His transition to Hollywood films (Slumdog Millionaire, Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol) was easy too.

Changing mediums

And the best is his seamless move to small screen. Instead of acting in other productions, he decided to produce and act in 24, an adaption from the American TV series of the same name. Two seasons of the series have been successfully aired. Even when he turned into producer of films, he adopted subjects which were very different from the genre of films that he has acted in. He made films like My Wife’s Murder (2005), Gandhi, My Father (2007) etc.

And the latest for this versatile actor is the digital video service by Amazon India. He is starring in the Amazon Originals’ new sci-fi drama pilot, The Book of Strange New Things, based on the novel by Michael Faber. It’s the story of a priest sent to space to set up a new colony and  who ends up with an experience that challenges his faith in his own beliefs. Anil is Vikram Danesh, an authoritative head of an outdoor base in this digital video service.

Quiz him about this move to digital format, Anil promptly responds, “That is the future, isn’t it?’’ Explaining further, he adds that the present generation is always glued to their mobiles. The future generation will also see the same thing. “They talk, walk and breath with their phones. In future, where will they have time to go to a theatre to watch a film? They would rather watch films lying on their beds in their homes, or while travelling to their colleges and workplaces. Or, even watch it with their group of friends in a cosy place. So, mobile content is the future,’’ he prophesies.  

According to him, the format doesn’t make any difference. “We have to act, emote and do the job, which we have been doing for years now. There aren’t many changes in the technology department. It’s only the end users who differ today. In this case, they have to be Amazon Prime users.’’

Anil also observed that for any format to gain popularity, the content has to be good. “Wohi gheesi-peeti content nahin chalegi (The same old content won’t work). The genre of sci-fi is always popular. Future ventures also must have interesting content to woo the young. Storylines are changing. All over the world, successful experimentations with story and content are making the world cinema a very exciting place now,” he ends.