Failures don’t alarm him — he just picks himself up, dusts off his disappointments and moves on. It’s a strategy that has paid off well for Abhishek Kapoor who was a non-starter as an actor but who has become a star movie director.

From his early box office rejections as actor to director of super-hit films, Kapoor, 43, has traversed a long, tough road. He’s best known today for his hit films, Rock On!! and Kai Po Che.

He’s back now with Fitoor, an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, Great Expectations that’s set in Kashmir. Fitoor which means obsession in Urdu is a love story starring Aditya Roy Kapur who plays Noor, an artist in love with Firdous played by Katrina Kaif. The movie’s slated to release on February 12 and the trailer’s already a hit online with around seven million views.

“At the heart of Fitoor is the grand story of Great Expectations. But I have adapted it for our Indian audiences. I’ve seen different versions of Great Expectations and felt that I could interpret the story in my own way,” Kapoor says.

In the film, Kapur plays the Indian version of Pip, the iconic character of Great Expectations and Kaif plays Firdaus, the Indian version of Estella. How close is her role to Dickens’ Estella? “Katrina was the perfect choice for Estella.

She’s cold yet strong,” he says. Tabu portrays the high-handed Begum Hazrat, a role similar to Miss Havisham’s in the classic. But Rekha, who was the first choice for the role, walked out of the film after shooting for 50 days, throwing Kapoor into a quandary. At his diplomatic best, Kapoor says: “When Rekhaji started the film, she loved everything about it, from the script to the dialogues. However, when we started filming, we saw things differently and thought it was best to part ways.”

Tabu replaced the veteran actor and slipped into the role of a chic begum with ease. “Tabu fits into different roles naturally,” observes Kapoor.

This wasn’t the only thing Kapoor had to deal with while making Fitoor. Around the same time, he was also doing the rounds of the Bombay High Court as he’d filed a case against Farhan Akhtar, the Rock On!! producer. He was demanding that Excel Entertainment, Akhtar’s production house, give him due credit for co-writing the story of Rock On!! 2. “I had to speak up. Since they were using my story I should get credited for it,” he says. The court ruled in his favour.

Kapoor launched his production company, Guy in the Sky Pictures, in 2014 and Fitoor is his first production in
collaboration with UTV Motion Pictures.

Although Kapoor has been delivering hits, his initial years in Bollywood were anything but easy. His fascination with the industry started young, when as a child of nine he’d accompany his uncle ‘Jumping Jack’ Jeetendra to the sets. And when he was studying commerce at Sydenham College, Mumbai, he joined the film industry. “I thought I could be an actor and did whatever films that were offered to me,” he says. “That was not a great decision,” he adds.

Kapoor worked in Uff Yeh Mohabbat (1997) and Shikaar (2000) which flopped. “I failed completely as an actor,” he says expressionlessly and adds, “I was in a dark space and went into oblivion. Nobody gives you a second chance in Bollywood,” he says.

Kapoor gave up acting and started focusing on direction and writing scripts. But it was six years before his debut film Aryan: Unbreakable (2006), hit the screens. This was an action film starring Sohail Khan and Sneha Ullal. This also sank without a trace. “It took me five years to make the film because funding was a big problem. The only thing it did for me was give me confidence in my abilities as a director,” he says.

His fortunes changed with Rock On!! (2008) starring Farhan Akhtar and Arjun Rampal which was a huge box office success and bagged two National Awards for Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Supporting Actor (for Rampal).
There’s been no looking back since. “I was meant to go through hardships. If you make it through the tough times you come out stronger and are a better person both professionally and personally,” smiles the director.

His third film, Kai Po Che (2013) was a huge success too. With an all-newcomers cast including Sushant Singh Rajput, Raj Kumar Yadav and Amit Sadh, it was adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s The 3 Mistakes of My Life.

Kapoor says that he’s inspired by books but tweaks the main storyline to make the story more appealing. “I carefully consider the content. A movie, when inspired by a novel, needs to be rewritten to make for a more fulfilling experience,” he explains.

He’s looking forward to a long break after Fitoor’s release. “I want to spend quality time with my son and wife,” he says. But meanwhile he’s keeping his fingers crossed for the film’s success.