Kunaal Roy Kapur on directing his hilarious first movie The President is Coming and moving on to act in Aamir Khans Delhi Belly
Resumes can be interesting,especially in Bollywood. The curriculum vitae of the cast and crew often hold more surprises than the bewildering twists and turns of the movie plots themselves. Consider its newest entrant,29-year-old Kunaal Roy Kapur who made a remarkable directorial debut with The President is Coming. His resume went like this: a dropout from St Xaviers College,Mumbai; have assisted Boman Irani whenever the latter picked up a camera; have made portraits of old people; have done bit roles on stage and played an unremarkable cameo in the side-splitting Loins of Punjab Presents.
You would be hard-pressed to remember Kapurs character,Mr White,who waited around with files in his hand in Loins of Punjab Presents,but destiny hung around on the sets. There he met screenplay writer Anuvab Patel. The two shook hands and,when the days shoot was over,went to learn scriptwriting.
While shooting for Loins,Pal and I enrolled at a scriptwriting workshop conducted by Rage Productions and Londons Royal Court Theatre in Mumbai. There,Pal wrote the play The President is Coming. He asked me if I would be interested in directing it and I agreed, Kapur reminisces about the play that was later adapted for the movie a story of six Indians,each a brilliant caricature,who are vying with each other to be the chosen one who gets to shake hands with the visiting US President George W Bush.
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Kapur is basking in the afterglow of the films critical success. I never intended to direct the film or venture into Bollywood. I went ahead with the film because the script was interesting. It was my kind of subject, he says.
Although the play had successful shows across Mumbai,Hyderabad and Chennai in mid-2007,both Pal and Kapur knew Bollywood was a different ball game. So Konkona Sen Sharma and Shernaz Patel were added to the cast,some characters and even the plot were tweaked and film was made under Rs 3 crore on the sets resembling the US Consulate in Mumbai.
Kapur one of the multi-taskers in new Bollywood does plan to direct another movie,but right now he is acting. It comes naturally to me, says Kapur who has acted in plays since he was a teenager and even done a stint in the television serial Just Mohabbat.
Now,he is on the sets of Aamir Khans Delhi Belly,playing one of the three lead characters,alongside with Imran Khan. So what does he prefer,acting or directing? Acting gives a huge gratification; direction is a bonus.
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