Shekhar Kapur

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A pampered child at home; a loner in school Shekhar Kapur was a victim of partition and his family had to move out from Lahore, where his father, a reputed doctor had good business. The family first came from Pakistan and settled in Shimla and later shifted to Nizamuddin in Delhi. He went to the elite Modern Boarding School, located at Barakhamba Road in New Delhi. The school was thronged by the children of rich and the famous. Though Shekhar was a pampered child at home but at the Boarding school he was a loner because the children of the affluent class made fun of him as he was the nephew of actor Dev Anand and in those days film stars were looked down, particularly by the Elite Society. Being isolated from others young Shekhar lived in his imaginary world writing creative stories, which he loved most. This passion later grew but his parents did not approve and he was asked to focus on studies. Shekhar Kicked his lucrative C.A. job for passion in arts As per parents insistence Shekhar Kapur joined St. Stephen's College and did his graduation in Economics. Later his parents sent him to England to do Chartered Accountant (C.A.) at The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in London. Shekhar Kapur claims he was a brilliant student since childhood and good at academics hence he had cleared his C.A. with flying colors and got a lucrative job at a multinational oil company. Though he was earning a handsome five figure salary in the early 70’s yet his heart wandered like a vagabond. Bored with his 9 to 5 job he kicked his job and ventured into photography but when he could not make it in photography he came to his uncle Dev Anand to seek guidance for a career in Bollywood.

Shekhar Kapur has been a ‘ladies’ Man’ since his teens Since his teens Shekhar Kapur has been a ‘Ladies’ Man’ for his charming and suave personality. He had his first crush when he was just 15 years. Girls fell for him but he claims his first romance was a failure. Later at St Stephena college he used to attract girls by his Lambretta scooter. When he went to London he lured many European girls with his striking personality and even posed as a master of Kamasutra! The girls trusted him as he was an Indian and Indians were regarded as hot and sexy. When he made his debut in Bollywood his romance with Shabana Azmi was splashed in glossies. Later his marriage to Medha Gujral and Suchitra Krishnamurthy too was affected due to his affairs outside.

Shekhar Kapur was discarded as a poor actor Shekhar Kapur got his first break as a supporting actor in his uncle Dev Anand’s film Ishk Ishk Ishk (1974). This was followed by Jaan Hazir Hai (1975). But both film bombed at box office. Shekhar Kapur was almost out but his romance with Shabana fetched him Toote Khilone in which he played hero. The song of the film were hit particularly the song Manna ho tum kitni haseen…. The movie did average business and Shekhar Kapur got his next film Jeena Yahan opposite Shabana Azmi and directed by Basu Chatterjee but the film failed badly! Shekhar Kapur surprised film critics with Masoom After tasting failure in acting Shekhar Kapur was in dilemma but Shabana Azmi, pepped him and urged him to try direction, which Shekhar loved from the beginning but had no funds to make a film. Being a creative story writer since childhood, he had penned a script but no film producer wanted to experiment with a newcomer like Shekhar Kapur. Hence Kapur had taken acting but after realizing that acting was not his cup of tea he decided to take the risk and direct a film. Shabana Azmi along with a common friend Arun Desai encouraged Shekhar to make a film. Devi Dutt, a close friend of the trio (Shekhar, Shabana and Arun) arranged a meeting with a film financer. Shekhar informed that when he narrated his original script to the financer he looked bored hence Shekhar quickly changed gears and narrated an emotional script of a married man and how his happy married life is shattered, when his other kid, born out-off wedlock, comes to stay in their house. The financer like the script and approved the film. Thus Shekhar Kapur made Masoom (1983) which was adapted from Hollywood film Man, Woman And Child. He wrote the screenplay along with Gulzar and casted Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah in lead role. But the ace card of the film was the cute child star Master Jugal Hansraj. The film won 8 Filmfare nominations and won five awards including Best film critics award. But surprisingly despite nominating Shekhar as Best director, he was declined Filmfare award. Shekhar Kapur faced much criticism for Bandit Queen but won solace as a director After mega success of Mr. India, Shekhar Kapur took a big break and returned to Bollywood after a huge gap of 12 years with a hard-hitting film Bandit Queen depicting the trials and tribulation of dacoit Phoolan Devi, a lower caste girl who was abused as a child and forced to becoming a dacoit. She ruled Uttar Pradesh in the early 70’s. The film faced many hurdles before release from certification to many protest for depicting foul language and nudity in film. Shekhar faced all the allegations with vigor but when the film was released film critics and left wing were left dumbfounded! Unlike Mr. India, Shekhar made the film as realistic as possible shooting the film in the interiors of Uttar Pradesh and casted qualified NSD actors like Seema Biswas as Phoolan Devi, Nirmal Pandey, Saurabh Shukla, Manoj Bajpayee, Raghuvir Yadav and Rajesh Vivek. The film was not only box office hit but won many top humors like National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. Filmfare also saluted Shekhar Kapur and gave him Best Direction for the film. The film created sensation at foreign film festivals like Cannes Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival. The film was selected as the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Oscar Award! Shekhar Kapur’s tryst with Hollywood After Mr. India, Shekhar was flooded to make typical Bollywood masala films but Shekhar was not comfortable making such kind of mindless thrash. Hence he left mid-way three multi-starrers films like Joshilaay (staring Anil Kapoor and Sunny Deol), Dushmani (Sunny Deol and Jackie Shroff) and Boney Kapoor’s Prem, the launch for his youngest brother. Shekhar Kapur decide to explore his talent in Hollywood and made his debut film Elizabeth (1998) and created sensation as the film won seven Oscar nomination and BAFTA and Golden Globe nomination for best director for Shekhar Kapur. After Elizabeth, Shekhar Kapur made a sequel of the film titled Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007). Shekhar Kapur intentionally made the film to silent the international film critics who claimed part I was a fluke. The second film was also hit and again won 2 nominations at Oscars. His other Hollywood films include The Four Feathers (2002), New York, I Love You( 2008), Passage (2009) Shekhar Kapur’s ambitious film Paani to be made in Hollywood! Shekhar Kapur had started his most ambitious film Paani in 1994 with Aamir Khan in lead but the film got delayed. Two decades later Yash Raj films decided to revive the film with Sushant Singh in the film. Excited to work with Shekhar Kapur, poor Shushant had dropped important films like Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram Leela and Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor. However the latest news is that Yash Raj films have shelved the film and Shekhar Kapur has decided to make the film in Hollywood with Hollywood actors. In a recent statement Shekhar Kapur has confirmed that he is not doing the film with Yash Raj films but shall make the film with Hollywood producers. Shekhar Kapur making biopic on Bruce Lee Among his future projects latest news is that Shekhar Kapur is making a biopic on Karate legend Bruce Lee to be produced Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon in association with US-Hong Kong-China. It is financed by Dadi Media Group, Beijing Golden World Pictures, Shanghai Longzhilin Cultural Investment Partnership and Kirin Media. The film is titled Little Dragon and is based on the rise and betrayal in the life of the Hong Kong-American martial arts King Bruce Lee. Besides direction Shekhar Kapur has co-written the script with Lee’s daughter Shannon.