For Anil Kapoor, acting is all about being able to connect with his audiences and the actor feels fortunate that in his career, which spans over 35 years, he was offered scripts that enabled him to do that. Decoding his journey in Bollywood, which started in 1971 when he played the role of a young Shashi Kapoor in Tu Payal Mein Geet, Kapoor believes it is a combination of things that have worked in his favour till now - from good scripts to the respect he has earned from his peers and fans.
"Whatever planning and strategy you do, one would never know what will come your way. Because people are offering me different scripts, I am in a better position to chose and do what is right for me.
"There are a lot of actors who are not offered those kinds of films. I am very fortunate that all kinds of films are offered to me from mainstream to emotional to action films," the actor told PTI.
The actor says he judges his work on the parameter of whether it has been successful in entertaining the audiences. Â "I do films with the sole purpose of entertaining people. I am an entertainer, I like to make people laugh, cry, angry and connect with them. For me, doing drama, horror or patriotic film, making people cry is also entertainment.
"I like to engage audience. I don't want to bore the audience. If it connects with people, I feel happy and if it doesn't, I get sad too," Kapoor says.
Kapoor insists that he still feels fresh like a newcomer when he goes to a film's set. "Every decade you have to change your decisions. Now every year you have to do it. I try to keep changing with time. Decisions like what kind of films you should do, the filmmakers you want to work with. For me, it is a learning experience.
"I experiment and do out-of-the-box films. I try to do mix bag of things. I have to like story and the people working on it," he adds.
His most recent release, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, about the same-sex relationship, has been getting rave reviews from both the critics and the audiences. Kapoor is now promoting his upcoming film Total Dhamaal.
His slate for the year is full as the actor will soon start shooting for Anees Bazmee's Pagalpanti in London. He also has Karan Johar's Takht and a biopic on Olympian Abhinav Bindra with his son Harsvardhan Kapoor. "I have never taken my work lightly. I am happily busy. Other than acting in films, I do take out time for my family, friends and workouts. But acting will always be my first passion. I feel honesty and sincerity does find its place somewhere."
Having tried his hands at almost all genres in his career, the 62-year-old actor says he knows the trick of preparing for a role. "For certain films you have to be spontaneous and instinctive and for some you have to do quite a bit of prep work. I am playing a Gujarati in 'Total Dhamaal' so I had a dialect coach, he helped me. For every film it is different."
Total Dhamaal, the third instalment in the hit comedy franchise "Dhamaal", reunites the actor with his 90s co-star Madhuri Dixit Nene and he is happy to be once again paired opposite her. The film releases on February 22.
"Not everybody can do comedy. You need a certain kind of understanding, sensibility to do these kinds of films. It requires a lot of effort, it doesn't happen overnight. People think we go on sets and comedy films just happen like that. Comedy is always difficult to create," Kapoor says.
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