Prithvi Theatre feels like “home” to its visitors because we fostered an atmosphere of acceptance: Actor Zahan Kapoor

Zahan’s involvement with the festival started in 2012, a critical year since his paternal aunt Sanjna Kapoor had stepped down as the theatre’s director and Kunal helmed the festival. Armed with a DSLR camera, Zahan shot a promotional video for the festival. “Since I was interested in filmmaking, I thought the Prithvi Theatre Festival should have a promo video.” In subsequent years, he worked on increasing the festival’s outreach through social media and marketing. “I got involved because of my deep interest in storytelling and learned on the job,” he says.

This experience was fascinating enough to draw him to the festival, year after year. “Shaira and I used to work on the decor together. We used to draw designs, brainstorm and even put up the lights ourselves. Today, she has taken over the decor and lighting aspect of the festival because that’s her expertise while I am more focussed on social media. We design posters and plan publicity,” says Zahan, seated at the Prithvi cafe, brimming with the festival bustle.

His interest in acting, however, was triggered before his involvement with the festival when he assisted theatre personalities like Sunil Shanbag and Neeraj Kabi during their Summertime workshops as a volunteer in 2010.

“That’s when I got interested in acting. Till then, I was more keen on filmmaking even though I had acted in school plays, including the stage production of The Kite Runner,” he says.

However, more than the fame and glitz of being an actor, Zahan was drawn to the process of putting up a play and the preparations actors go through. That’s when he took a deep dive — reading about stagecraft, theatre and other aspects of performance art. “For a month, I watched the rehearsal of Naseeruddin Shah’s Arms and The Man (a play written by George Bernard Shaw),” he says. He also attended several workshops, including one at London’s National Youth Theatre and Adishakti, near Auroville.

The titular role of Faraaz came to Zahan almost by fluke, when Mehta, his neighbour, had seen him passing by. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra had earlier auditioned Zahan for a project and liked him but someone else got that role. When Mehta asked Chhabra about Zahan, the latter strongly recommended him. With this, Zahan worked on developing the film, whose script was yet to be written. “With Mahesh Bhatt, the producer then, and Hansal Sir, I went to Bangladesh to research. Hansal Sir, at that time, only had a story that needed to be fleshed out. That was a great experience,” says Zahan. He has acted in two forthcoming web shows, including the Vikramaditya Motwane-directed, Black Warrant.

Although Zahan is a fourth-generation theatrewallah — his great-grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor had founded the theatre group called Prithvi Theatre, which performed plays across the country — he learnt of his family and the extended Kapoor family’s artistic legacy during his teenage years.

“While growing up, Dadaji (Shashi) had retired from movies. I became aware of his body of work after he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2014. Since he could not travel to Delhi to receive the award, we celebrated it at Prithvi Theatre. My father was unhappy with the montage of songs shown during the award ceremony. He asked me to make a video that captures Dadaji’s range, vibrancy and energy.

While going through his films, I learnt about his contribution to cinema,” says Zahan, who has acted in Makarand Deshpande-directed plays Pitaji Please and Siachen.

Zahan aspires to continue his artistic pursuits and, eventually, be able to tell stories of our culture and country in a compelling way. He even hopes to live by his great-grandfather’s motto: Kala desh ki sewa mein (Art serving the nation)”. However, he wants to give
himself some time as he enjoys this stage of exploring various facets of
performance art.