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Anil Kapoor on completing 100 days of 24 and the plan ahead
Upala KBR (DNA; October 1, 2016)

Anil Kapoor completed 100 days of his TV Series 24: Season 2 earlier this week, next week the curtains will come down on the second season.

Anil who has been shooting round-the-clock, tells us, “It was exciting, thrilling, fulfilling, intense and exhausting. When we completed the last shot, I was choked with emotions as I bid farewell to everyone. When I got home my wife Sunita told me, ‘I have got my husband back.’ Everyone in my family was so excited about me coming home now. My manager Jalal went home to sleep after 100 days. We have shot for over 150 days including a prep period of 50 days.”

One of his favourite memories of Season 2 is a compliment from a contemporary, “I was very moved when Shabana (Azmi) said that I have raised the bar enormously for Indian TV with 24. When we ended the show everyone on my team came and hugged me. It has been an amazingly emotional, sentimental, physically draining journey for me. Yet I have learned from the whole experience. We have been shooting round-the-clock for the last one-and-a half-months since July and I am very happy, relieved and proud of what we have achieved.”

Now that the second season 24 is over another chapter will begin for Anil next week, “Our last episode will air on October 9 and my son Harshavardhan’s film Mirzya is releasing on October 7. So I begin another journey now as a father. People ask me if I feel sad now that 24 has ended. There are two things that are not in my dictionary and have been banned from the Kapoor home ­­—­ sadness, depression and boredom. When people feel sad, we give them a kick, when bored a slap and when depressed joota maarte hai hum. We don’t go to psychiatrists this way. In Indian families we are all there to give each other happiness and moral support.”

So after this can we expect 24: Season 3? “Right now, I am not thinking of a third series. Now, I will get into films as I have signed Mubarkan and Fanney Khan. On TV, I will dive into the Indian adaptation of Modern Family. My team is in place.” But he won’t act in it because of his movie commitments. He adds jokingly, “Of course if any actor acts smarts in my production, I will replace him with myself. I can be the father, the husband or even play the gay character. So all actors in Modern Family beware!”