Abhishek Kapoor: Finding his feet

With hits like Rock On!! and Kai Po Che!, critics are loving director Abhishek Kapoor’s work of late. his has been a true failure-to-success story

She was miffed. “As an actor, Gattu was so much better than I was, and yet everyone blasted him mercilessly. I got away lightly. I was even praised by some of the critics,” Twinkle Khanna had proclaimed way back in 1997 when their romedy, Uff! Yeh Mohabbat, was lambasted by practically everyone who had made the mistake of buying a ticket.

Dimple Kapoor’s daughter, Twinkle (alias Tina), and Abhishek Kapoor (aka Gattu), nephew of actor Jeetendra, were in the deep throes of a romance, even in real life then. Twinkle moved on, chucking up acting for marriage to Akshay Kumar. Abhishek Kapoor would have probably faded into anonymity, if he hadn’t reinvented himself as a writer and director of cutting edge films, such as Rock On!! or Kai Po Che!. His debut as a director, Aryan: Unbreakable, featuring Salman Khan’s kid brother Sohail as a Rocky-like boxing champ, has since been forgiven and forgotten.

And now Abhishek Kapoor, all of 43, has been in the news for some acrimonious as well as celebratory reasons. The latter, of course, has been his marriage to Pragya, a Swedish actress of Indian origin. The acrimonious reason: he has sued Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani in their capacities of the producers of Rock On 2!! for denying him credit as scriptwriter in the sequel’s credits.

And reportedly, a film corporate is dragging him to court for not returning a hefty amount of money advanced for directing a film with Ranbir Kapoor, a project that did not fructify. At this rate, the brand-new groom could well be spending months, if not years, trekking to the law courts.

Either way, it couldn’t have been easy for a failed actor to rewrite his career. &Actors who aren’t successful have to, perforce, hang out with those who can give them another shot. Fortuitously, opportunity knocked with Rock On!!, which went on to win prestigious awards, a perfect opportunity to return to the scene, as it were. Inevitably, the buzz went around that Farhan Akhtar had ghost-directed the musical drama about the reunion of four rock band buddies.

However, Abhishek Kapoor’s skills were affirmed with Kai Po Che!, again revolving around friends who fall out because of their differing political ideologies. As a director, besides tackling a topical theme, he turned Sushant Singh Rajput, a mediocre TV actor, into an overnight sensation.

FAILURE TO SUCCESS: (left to right) The 1997 romedy Uff! Yeh Mohabbat, starring the young Gattu and Twinkle Khanna; Abhishek Kapoor went on to reaffirm his skills as a director with Kai Po Che!, after winning many prestigious awards for his work with Rock On!!

Gratitude is a rare commodity in show business. Sushant Singh Rajput dropped out of his mentor’s next project, opting to work instead with the more high-profile Yashraj banner. But neither of Sushant’s performances in Shuddh Desi Romance or Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! gave him the kind of platform that Kai Po Che! had.

No worries. Sushant was replaced by Aditya Roy Kapoor in Fitoor (meaning, obsession), which also features Katrina Kaif and Rekha. The project, currently being filmed, is a curious one though: an Indianisation of Charles Dickens’ 19th century novel Great Expectations. Narrating an orphan’s journey though various societal vicissitudes, can Dickens’ classic be Bollywoodised?

I’m inclined to give Abhishek Kapoor the benefit of the doubt. After all, in terms of style and sensibility, his work so far has been above the commonplace. And you have to hand it to him: he has been a fighter. Still, I’d say, Dickens’ classic is difficult to film. More than assembling a saleable star cast, the script has to be spot on. Fingers crossed.

In real life, the director is infallibly courteous, knows how to keep the media on his side, and handle the mandatory tricks of the trade. I remember being on the same Mumbai-New Delhi flight with him a day after the release of Uff! Yeh Mohabbat. He was received at the terminal by a trade representative with a bouquet of wilted roses. In response, he had murmured, “I don’t know if I will ever become a success. But then, you can bet, the roses will be fresh.”

And thereby hangs a failure-to-success story, which is as rare as warmth in the frosty climes of Bollywood.

• WKND