Anil Kapoor says he was told he didn’t have a personality or presence: ‘Woh baat nahi hai’

He was reminded also of his earlier comments about having an unremarkable name as compared to his siblings. He said, “Yes, absolutely, so that was the situation. And I was conscious about it. They’d say, ‘Acting-wacting theek kar leta hai, achi kar leta hai, magar iski personality mein woh baat nahi hai (He’s a good actor, but he doesn’t have a strong personality)’. So I said, ‘Yaar, personality kaise karein?‘”

Slowly, he said, he worked on these aspects of stardom, and took criticism in a positive manner. “I genuinely did my best to groom myself, and of course, I had the right people who came into my life and helped me,” he said. Anil said that his mission to groom himself started with jogging, then moved to weights, and now, not a single conversation with him concludes before someone mentions how good he looks for his age.

The actor will next play an Air Force officer in the upcoming action film Fighter, directed by Siddharth Anand and starring Hrithik Roshan.