Pankaj Kapur

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Pankaj Kapur was rejected by FTII for his ugly looks Despite being the son of a school principal young Pankaj was not interested in studies. He was attracted to acting since younger days and won awards at school and college dramas. He was a great fan of Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Marlon Brando and would watch their films and idolize them. Watching films increased his passion for drama and cinema. Once his father asked him, whether he was obsessed with glitter and glamour of cinema or was he genuinely passionate about acting. Young Pankaj confessed that he was compassionate about acting and wants to make a career in acting. His father understood his emotions and advised him to study cinema by joining FTII (Film and Television Institute of India). Pankaj was delighted at his father’s support and applied a form for FTII . Alas he was rejected by FTII because he did not have charming personality to become an actor! Disheartened he told the sad news to his father. His father suggested to him to get himself an admission at NSD (National School of Drama), a bigger platform than FTII.

Pankaj Kapur has married twice Pankaj Kapur first fell in love when he was just 21 year old and doing NSD. During his theatre days he fell in love with a beautiful dancer and co- actress Neelima Azeem. They married in 1975. Their child Shahid Kapur is Bollywood’s celebrity star. In the 80’s the two separated. In1986 Pankaj Kapur met actress Supriya Pathak when he was working with her for the film Agla Mausam. Supriya Pathak was also a divorcee hence the two gelled well and married in 1988.

Pankaj Kapur faced much dejection in Bollywood Pankaj Kapur learned the nuances of acting by NSD’s ace guru Ebrahim Alkazi. Hence Pankaj was sure to make it big in Bollywood. However he did not receive any red carpet welcome, instead Bollywood mocked his short height and his unconventional looks. Dejected Pankaj tried parallel cinema which was kind to him but it paid measly hence Pankaj had bad times for survival. Left with no choice he agreed to do a small role as Pyarelal (Mahatma Gandhi’s secretary) in Sir Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. When Bollywood rejected him, Pankaj did few art films like Aadharshila, Arohan, Mandi, Khandhar, Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho! Among this film only Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro helped him gain some publicity. Pankaj Kapur became a star overnight with TV serial Karamchand which was one of the most popular detective serial on air. Frustrated with his career going nowhere Pankaj Kapur started doing theatre and became a renowned name at Prithvi Theatre. Theatre enthusiast began hailing him as the future Dilip Kumar and Naseeruddin Shah. It was here filmmaker Pankaj Parashar spotted him and offered him the TV serial Karamchand, India’s first ever detective serial on DD which made Pankaj Kapur a star overnight. But what is shocking is that Pankaj Kapur was not the original choice for Karamchand. So readers would wonder who was the original choice, well Doordarshan (DD) had signed Pankaj Parashar and asked to make a pilot film with actor Aloknath as Karamchand but some dispute erupted between Aloknath and Pankaj Parashar hence Pankaj Parashar kicked Aloknath out and brought Pankaj Kapur. For the first few weeks Karamchand did not receive good reception but soon it became the talk of the town. As the carrot chewing detective Pankaj Kapur became a household name in India. The serial became such a hit that after completing 13 episodes, it won an extension of another 13 weeks. Later Pankaj Parashar quit the serial as he got busy with his film Jalwa but DD received over 10,000 letters to continue Karamchand. Thus on public demand the serial got another extension!! Till date the serial is remembered for its brilliant performance by Pankaj Kapur and fast packed and edge of the seat direction by Pankaj Parashar! Pankaj Kapur became a name to reckon on TV After the mega success of the Karamchand (1985–1988) Pankaj Kapur became a name to reckon on TV. He did a chain of successful TV serials like Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne (1989-1990); Zabaan Sambhalke (1993); Neem ka Ped (1991); Mohandas B.A.L.L.B.; Discovery Of India etc. However the TV serial that made Pankaj Kapur immortal was that of Musaddilal, the common man who confronts corruption at multiple government office in Rajiv Mehra’s super hit TV serial Office Office (2000). The serial was so hit that it was re-launched as Naya Office Office and was even made into a Bollywood film starring the same team with Pankaj Kapur in lead. Pankaj Kapur won Indian Telly Award consecutively for Best Actor in a Comic Role in Office Office for the year 2002 and 2003 respectively. Pankaj Kapur came on horizon with 3 National Awards While on one hand Pankaj Kapur made name on TV doing a variety of roles on the other hand he did challenging roles in parallel cinema. Pankaj Kapur drew attention when he won his First National award as Best supporting actor in Aamir Khan’s film Raakh (1989). The film also fetched a Film fare nomination. Two years later Pankaj Kapur made headline for his sensitive portrayal as Dr. Dipankar Roy in Tapan Sinha’s highly acclaimed film Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1990). The film won Best film National award and Pankaj Kapur won Special Jury National award for his dynamic act. Pankaj Kapur won his third National Award with Vishal Bhardwaj film Maqbool. He also won Filmfare Award Critics Award for Best Actor in Maqbool. Some of his sensitive performance in parallel cinema include Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986), Main Zinda Hoon (1988), The Blue Umbrella (2005), Dharm (2007), Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013) etc. Besides parallel cinema, Bollywood that had booted out Pankaj Kapur for his ugly look too came up with some tailor made role for him, which he did with good filmmakers like Basu Chatterjee’s Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986), Pankaj Prashar’s Jalwa (1987), Mani Ratnam’s Roja (1992), Rajkumar Santoshi’s Halla Bol (2008), Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013), Anubhav Sinha’s Dus (2005) In fact in Dus, Pankaj Kapur played the lead villain and won Best Actor National Award by Journalist Association of India and Filmfare Best Villain nomination for Dus