There are many roads to Bollywood, some take the theatre route, others slog through auditions, and then there were the lucky few in the early 2000s who rode in on a wave of pop culture and VJ stardom. A prominent face among them was actor Aditya Roy Kapur. At 18, long before his chiselled abs and disarming smile made him a ladies’ favourite, he was a bright-eyed VJ at Channel V, standing out for his distinctive Afro hairstyle.

That hairstyle is what landed him the gig in 2003, the actor said candidly. He explained, “My brother [Siddharth Roy Kapur] had a friend, who used to work in Channel V. When she came home one day and saw that I have this Afro, she found it an interesting look and suggested that I audition for the channel. I was never interested in arts. So, I told her a hard no. But my mom kicked my a** and told me to do it. So, on a rainy evening, I grudgingly caught the train from Churchgate to Andheri,” he chuckled.

Channel V, one of the two leading music channels of India then, operated out of Split Labs in Saki Naka, Andheri East. Its popular music shows, from Very V to Basement were shot at Chandivali Studios, a stone’s throw away from the office. That is where Kapur landed. “Sarah Jane Dias, the star VJ at that time, was shooting one of those countdown shows. I reached half an hour late because of the rains, and grudgingly did that audition. They felt I had an interesting vibe, but wasn’t ready to be on screen yet. So, they made me a trainee VJ,” he recalled.

For the next month, Kapur would take the train from Churchgate to Andheri, sit in the studio, and observe what goes into the making of a show and a VJ. A month later, when Basement’s host, Juhi Pande, was travelling, he landed up on camera. And that too, with the best company — Anuradha Menon aka Lola Kutty. The two then regrouped for another show, Lola TV. “Lola Kutty is a legend. She’d train me, and then one evening, she said, ‘Let’s get on camera.’ So, the [producers] gave me a white T-shirt with ‘Trainee VJ’ written on it and cast me as an assistant to her. I would just sit in front of the camera,” he laughed.

Pakao, his first solo show as a VJ, came in 2004. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t where he interviewed Katrina Kaif, who would go on to become his co-star in Fitoor, in 2016. Before the Channel V interview, he had shot a Lakme ad with Kaif as well. “[The script was] that she walks by, all these boys look at her, and everyone gives a big reaction. Eleven of us boys were waiting in one room the whole day. At midnight finally, I was asked to shoot my close-up. Obviously, I didn’t meet Katrina — she had filmed her portions earlier. I told this to her later.”

Kapur has come a long way since then. Today, with hits like Aashiqui 2 (2013), Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013), and Metro... In Dino under his belt, he is among the leading actors of Bollywood. Understandably then, his first screen fame — the four-and-a-half years’ stint at Channel V — remains special to him. “We used to host in English. When Roadies and other reality TV shows became a rage, the channel pivoted to Hindi. After hosting in English for three years, suddenly they wanted us to host in Hindi. The whole syntax changed. That was tough for me as my Hindi was poor. If you ask anyone on the Channel V crew, they could never foresee me becoming a Hindi movie actor. They would’ve laughed at the thought.”

Since this is about firsts, when asked about his first splurge from his VJ job, he said, “It’s not as if I was making crazy money at the time, but at that age, I was happy with what I was getting.  I remember my most expensive purchase was a Royal Enfield bike. I ride it to this day,” the actor ended. Well, dil bole vroom, vroom. 

Aditya Roy Kapur with Anuradha Menon aka Lola Kutty. Pics/Channel V, Instagram