Blond-haired, blue-eyed, blue-blooded — the Kapoors are cinematic royalty, after all. But 'Dream lover' Karan Kapoor left to pursue a London Dream
Namrata Bhawnani (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 10, 2016)

Back in the 80s, an incredibly handsome man stepped off the silver screen, and scooped up a lady from the audience. And all of us seated in the darkened theatre wanted to be either him or her.

Our 'Dream Lover', brought to us by Bombay Dyeing, inherited the mantle from his father. But Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal's son, Karan Kapoor, left Bollywood behind to chase a different dream, of a life behind the lens. He is now an established award-winning photographer in the UK. We sit down for a cosy fireside chat in a pub on a typical wet and grey London morning.

The Kapoor charm is on ample display as he tells us that photography wasn't a shift as much as a return to roots. At 17, Karan worked as a stills photographer for the Merchant Ivory production The Bostonians. "He (Ismail Merchant) paid me nothing and just gave me an airline ticket. I jumped at the chance. Working with Vanessa Redgrave and Christopher Reeve was phenomenal. Then, I moved to New York and it felt like home."

But all was not well at home. As a producer, Shashi Kapoor was never astute and money was short. Karan says, "The hardest time for my dad was when my mum died. He was in debt, he was depressed and disillusioned. I returned and that's when I did the ad and a few films. It was about taking some financial responsibility, not making a career choice."

The ads were a turning point ("Women would tell me they'd married me somewhere"), and Bollywood came calling with Loha and Afsar, beloved perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

"I couldn't dance! I did Loha with Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha and they couldn't dance either. I was in really good company," Karan says, laughing heartily. "Shatru was too much, he'd arrive four hours late, would learn his lines immediately... he's a genius. There was a lot of whisky drinking at the end. It was all very macho and I loved it. What the film was about though, I don't know. Ask Shatru and Dharam, they didn't know what it was about either. It wasn't just me!"

But Karan wasn't meant to be a Bollywood hero and he knew it. "I was very blonde and even dyed my hair black. My grasp of Hindi wasn't very good, although it's better now. I would've been slotted in a niche, like Tom Alter, and I would never have been accepted by the masses. My dad was upset when I left. There were offers and the money was ridiculous, but I didn't think it would last."

Without a work permit for the US, he made London his home. He recalls, "It took me a long time here, the competition is insane. England is tougher than America — the doors aren't that open."

He met his wife, Lorna, and focussed on advertising when the kids arrived, but is now ready to journey back home again. "I'm known for my commercial work here. The Anglo Indian project (recently republished by Tasveer Journal), the series on Goa is of interest now. I look at this grey weather and think, 'How many years have I done this?' My soul's always been Indian. I've always felt more at home there."

The kids, Aaliya and Zachary, are growing up, so India is drawing closer. "If Aaliya goes to university, she'll probably be the first Kapoor to do so! She's very bright, I don't know where she gets it from," he laughs.

As his parents did, Karan encourages his children to not succumb to conformity. They've travelled with him to India and Karan says that while his dad's ill now, he used to be great with them — as he was with Karan and his siblings, Kunal and Sanjana.

"We grew up in Malabar Hill, away from the industry. We rented a place called the Love House in Goa before Goa became fashionable. The people in the fishing village didn't bother my dad — he would walk to the beach, have a beer, walk back. Wrestling was really big then and dad used to take us to see Dara Singh and Patrick Roach. I'm grateful to my parents for the freedom — it was never about privileges or money. I used to go to the nationals in Delhi as a swimmer and he'd be the chief guest — and I'd be very embarrassed."

Karan still swims, cycles by the river, and plays football with his son. "I've started exercising more as I get older. I look at my dad's generation and by the time they're 50, they're old men. I have the Kapoor tendency to put on weight. When the family gets together, all we talk about is food! We have no body control. But the younger stars really look after themselves — maybe a bit too much!"

Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 14, 2014)

Sapna (34) and Kanti Shah (he won't tell)

For most, Kanti Shah's films summarise low-budget titillation on celluloid. His upcoming release, OK is a take on Aamir Khan's P.K. When the first look of Khan's December release went viral, it didn't miss Shah's eye. "When I saw Aamir on a railway track, hiding his privates behind a messenger bag, I thought, why can't my actress do this?" says the writer-director-producer of B-grade films.

Instantly, a shoot was organised; the bag replaced by a camera to conceal her modesty. Without a story in mind, Shah registered the title and shared the poster online. The response, he calls, phenomenal. "Distributors were calling me within days, asking when I'd start work on the film," says the director, whose peculiar brand of filmmaking begins with fixing the title before the script. With names like Jungle Ki Sherni, Pyaasa Haiwan and Qatil Chudail, his craft is obvious. "Mujhe maal do, and I'll make a film. To write a story takes only five days," he shrugs when we meet him at a suburban coffee shop. The last title that he registered a few days before this meeting, is Policewali, inspired by a photoshoot he did with a model dressed as a police officer, waist down. She was missing the shirt.

But Shah's fast food filmmaking style was once closer to slow cooking. Three months of script reading with writers and cast members was followed by getting music directors to translate the spirit of the film in tune, and even scouting for suitable locations. This was back in the 1990s when he directed his magnum opus, Gunda (1998). The Mithun Chakraborty-starrer acquired cult status for its unintentionally comic dialogue, over-the-top action and uber-obscenity. It also marked the debut of an 18-year-old newcomer from Nashik, who'd become his partner.

Shah begins narrating the story and stops abruptly, blaming his failing memory, when he is prompted by Sapna. "Kanti had just wrapped up Dharmendra-Govinda-starrer, Loha. This was in 1997. I was visiting Mumbai after my 12th board exams. He was leaving from a meeting in Adarsh Nagar, when he spotted me and invited me over for a drink the same evening," she says, when Kanti interrupts, "She was very fresh at the time."

What followed was what Sapna describes as, "dono ka attraction ho gaya tha" and before she knew it, with no formal training in acting, Sapna was making her debut as Chakraborty's sister in Gunda. "She is a one-take artist, and since she was also a friend, I had to cast her," says Shah, who went on to sign her for revenge horror drama, Maut (1998), Munnibai (1999) opposite Dharmendra, and Daku Ramkali (1999), all within a year's time. "I wasn't afraid of making mistakes. It was an inclusive work atmosphere. Even if I faltered, Kanti would correct me," says Sapna, who acted as producer on several of his projects.

The first four years of their association saw them make 30 films. Most of these either paid a tribute to classics (Duplicate Sholay, Aag Ke Sholay, Jung Ke Sholay) or expanded on the Tarzan sub-genre (Jungle Ka Sher, Jungle Ki Sherni, Badla Sherni Ka). And then there were the sex-horror films.

Today, their cinematic partnership is 65-films-old and it's safe to say that Sapna is Shah's ultimate muse. He even credits her for his films' success, which he classifies in the following genres — action, horror and "bold". Although Sapna's filmography clocks 275 across nine languages, she feels her best work is evident in Shah's films. "I did my own stunts in several of them. I remember riding two horses at once, with no support, in Daku Ramkali, and delivering a five-minute monologue while lifting a corpse over my head." For the feat, she earned the moniker Lady Amitabh Bachchan and several scars under her elbow which she considers "medals".

Shah, who has made over 150 films, says his career choice was just as accidental as Sapna's. "After my 10th exams, I did odd jobs. I worked in a garage and sold pillows sourced from Ulhasnagar outside Santacruz station." His stint in films began in the early '80s as production assistant, thanks to friend, Raghunath Singh. Working his way up helped him learn all aspects of the craft, which means he is a one-man army today who churns what he calls "films that are in plus" or profitable for investors. North and South India are big markets, and breaking even isn't a challenge because his budget hovers between thirty lakh ("bold") to fifty lakh (action). "Zyada paisa lagake mujhe kaunsa medal milne wala hai?" he jokes.

At this point, Sapna feels the need to inform us about Shah's achievements, "He's even made Sudha Chandran ride a horse in Phoolan Hasina Ramkali," she says with pride, referring to the actor who challenged her physical disability to make a career in dance and cinema.

But becoming veterans in their niche has its downside too. Sapna fishes out her cell phone to show us a poster of Ek Ek Ka Kaat Doongi. While the poster carries Shah's name and features Sapna clutching on to a bloodsmeared sword, the two have nothing to do with the film. "It takes five minutes to sit in a cyber cafe and copypaste my face on another woman's body. That's what they've done," she rues. But Shah isn't bothered by amateur tactics. After all, he has often been credited as director for films he never made. "If someone wants to use my name to sell their film, let them," he says with charismatic nonchalance.

Despite their glorious gemeinschaft in tinsel town, the couple hasn't worked together since MMS Kand (2012). "She's become big (sic); I can't afford her," he says with mock resignation, before Sapna interrupts him. "Main moti ho gayi hoon... something Kanti believed would never happen." Then she flashes that coquettish smile.