When Aadar Jain told his mother Reema that he wanted to become an actor, she only had one thing to say. “She said, ‘I am not expecting you to be Raj Kapoor, but I expect you to have the work ethic of Raj Kapoor’. My mom spent a lot of time with my grandfather on his sets so she saw first-hand how hard he worked,” shares the actor who makes his debut with August 25 film Qaidi Band, produced by Yash Raj Films. The 23-year-old — whose mom is Raj Kapoor’s daughter and Rishi and Randhir’s sister and whose first cousins include Karisma, Kareena and Ranbir Kapoor — met t2 in a conference room at the YRF Studio in Andheri, Mumbai, to talk film and family.

When did the acting bug bite you?

When I was growing up, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was like one of those typical lost boys in school. I loved sports, especially football. I was a part of my school team. I also loved talent shows in school. I was musically inclined. I played the drums and we had a band. I would also host and dance. Being on stage — the applause and attention — was quite a high. It was addictive. In high school, I realised that entertaining people was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. My parents were very keen on me getting an education, so I went to the New York Film Academy and did a course in acting and filmmaking.

Once you came back from acting school, why did you decide to assist directors instead of auditioning to become an actor?

The course in New York taught me the basics of acting in front of the camera. It was living on my own in New York that taught me a lot. I loved films but I had no idea how they were made. Even though I come from a film family, we were never taken to a film set. Being an assistant director was very educational. I learnt by watching others on set, by reading lines or setting the background. After I came back from New York, I assisted on Happy New Year and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.  

If you had to pick one memory from either of the two films, what would it be?

There are so many fabulous and educational memories but I’ll tell you about my first day working on a film set. It was Happy New Year and I believe the tradition is for a new AD to give the clap with a clapboard on the first day. This is what syncs the audio with the visual and makes an editor’s life easier. I had no idea how to give a clap and when you are in front of actors like Mr Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan and Boman Irani you are anyway intimidated. I was really nervous and then I got yelled at by Farah Ma’am (Khan, director). Eventually I managed to give the clap!

What is your earliest memory of being on a film set?

When my brother Armaan and I were kids, we’d go to London for our summer holidays. He was about eight and I was five. We had no idea what happens on a set. We were more interested in playing. Mr Karan Johar is a very close family friend. We went to a mall where Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was being shot. This was where Kajol goes and touches Amitji’s (Amitabh Bachchan) feet. I understood that she was touching his feet out of respect, but I couldn’t understand why she was doing it 12 times! (Laughs) When we had met Amitji before the shoot, I had only touched his feet once so I asked Mum if I also need to touch his feet 12 times! I also met Ranbir once on the sets of Wake Up Sid here in YRF for a school project.

How did Qaidi Band come your way?

After Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, I decided that it was time to start auditioning and focus on becoming an actor. I was doing acting workshops, working out and dancing but I couldn’t figure out how to make that first move towards acting. So, I spoke with Shanoo Sharma who is the casting director for YRF. She auditioned me for about three months. It wasn’t for anything particular. There were weeks when I would audition every day and then I wouldn’t get a call from her for the next two weeks. I really didn’t know what was happening. It was only later that I was told that the audition tapes were being shown to Adi Sir (Aditya Chopra) and Mr Habib Faisal (the director of Qaidi Band).

I was in an acting course when Shanoo called me and told me to go to the fourth floor at YRF. Thanks to Koffee With Karan, I knew what the ‘fourth floor at YRF’ meant. That was the day that I met Adi Sir for the first time and he told me that Mr Habib Faisal had liked my initial auditions, but now he wanted to audition me. I auditioned for two more weeks before Mr Faisal narrated the story to me. I loved it instantly.

You have said in an interview that you didn’t ask any of your family members for advice. Why?

I only wanted my family’s blessings. I want my journey to be all mine. I want the mistakes to be mine and the successes to be mine as well. I could have easily just hung out with my cousins on their film sets and seen how things were done but I wanted to work and to learn on my own.

All your cousins on your mother’s side are actors...

We are all very close. All of us get together for Sunday lunch at the grandmother’s house in Chembur. Imagine a long dining table laden with the best Peshawari food! There’s biryani, paaya, naari nihari, junglee mutton which was Shammi nana’s favourite. There’s complete chaos around that table. Everyone is talking at the same time.

Someone’s arguing, someone’s cracking up… it’s mad and in the middle of all this is my grandmother at the head of the table. All said and done, it’s really nice to meet everyone because otherwise everyone is busy with their lives.
‘Kapoor is not my surname but films run in my blood’ was a tagline used when YRF introduced you last month.

Growing up, when did you become aware of how illustrious your family is?

I knew that they were actors but that to me was as normal as someone being a doctor or a lawyer. I didn’t know what it means to be an actor. I knew my uncles and cousins were famous. And I thought it was cool but we are like any other family. We meet for lunches and dinners. It was only when I decided to become an actor that I realised the kind of respect my family had garnered over the years.

One of the first photos that we saw of you had your grandfather’s face superimposed. In a press conference your cousin Ranbir Kapoor introduced you. When there’s been so much talk about nepotism in the industry, this felt like you want to draw attention to your family’s connections instead of downplay it. You got a lot of hate on social media for it...

To be honest, that photo of my grandfather superimposed on me, I thought was very creative. There was a strategy behind how Anya (Singh, his co-star) and I would be introduced and I was very excited that it was finally happening.

I was very happy that my brother is taking time off from Jagga Jasoos promotions for me. I never thought that picture would be misconstrued. I never met my grandfather. I have only got to know him through the stories I have heard from my family and the movies I have watched. For the longest time when I was a kid, I thought my grandfather was a joker because of Mera Naam Joker. The photo was meant to be symbolic... a special moment between my grandfather and me. I am not the kind of person who flaunts his family’s connections. I want my work to speak for me. I want to leave a legacy for my children. I know my benchmark is very high.

Karishma Upadhyay