His last name spells a colossal legacy, and the Indian audience cannot not see his similarity with his famous grandfather, but Zahan Kapoor’s lithe body of work speaks for itself. After Hansal Mehta’s Faraaz, based on the Holey Artisan Bakery shootout in Dhaka, the 32-year-old actor is the talk of the town for his performance as ASP Sunil Gupta in the web series Black Warrant. Paromita Kar spoke to Kapoor over a video call about his craft, his success and his love for theatre. Excerpts:
Q. First Faraaz and now Black Warrant, both roles have a certain weightiness, intensity. Not quite the usual debut one would associate with a Kapoor. Was this by design or default?
I am very happy to say that none of this is by design. I did not want to (pauses) manipulate the perception of me being “the next big thing”, be it in a commercial sense or a gritty “meaningful storytelling” sense… It was more of a desire to associate with the maker or storyteller who is passionate about what they were telling, why they were telling it.
Q. Are you saying there were no other opportunities that came your way?
There’s a series I did in between — Bandwaale. It isn’t out yet. My role there is relatively lighter although it has a lot of deep emotions. It’s a different genre; it’s lighthearted, a bit quirky and silly, a small town story.
Q. What are you working on now?
There’s nothing concrete I can share with you now. I am occupied with shows of my play Siachen. Again, a surprisingly dark and heavy story (laughs). I want to bring it to Calcutta, and have been trying to see who can help us do that.
Q. A lot is made out about the “Kapoor khandan”. Tell us a bit about it from your perspective.
Honestly, I am very thankful for the way I was brought up by my parents (Kunal Kapoor and Sheena Sippy, daughter of Ramesh Sippy). It was very real and rooted, free of the pressure and burden of expectation. My grandfather (Shashi Kapoor) at home was my grandfather. My nuclear family was not connected in an active way with the bigger clan, apart from the odd family gathering. However, my participation is more now; I have grown closer to them in the last 15 years or so. It’s the experience of a large, eccentric and passionate family.
Q. Did the issue of nepotism ever have you worried?
The word erupted more recently. Maybe it bothered me a little bit but the advantage I had was that (long pause) my parents always told me — and this is inherited from my grandparents — that you need to discover it for yourself, you need to earn it. There cannot be any expectation that you will get in and get it.
I was encouraged constantly to study and learn… I was somewhat on the outskirts of the industry, not in the hot epicentre. I did not have ready connections. Of course, I was treated slightly differently because of my surname but still it was a process, from not knowing what to do and navigating the waters. It has taken a long time for this to happen. Even Faraaz took a long time; there were two waves of Covid, things got stalled during the lockdown. I know how rare it is for a story like Black Warrant to have this much resonance and impact. It’s luck but it’s also earned luck.
Q. Tell us a bit about your educational background.
I am a 12th pass. I have not studied formally beyond that. Even when I was in school, I was doing a lot of things outside formal education and learning from it. I am a product of jumping into the deep and getting your hands dirty. I learnt on the film sets, I didn’t go to a film school.
Q. When did you seriously start thinking about cinema as a career?
At 14, I made my first short film. I wrote a story and my father helped me understand the process — preproduction, how to set it up, how to shoot it, edit it, how to put it all together. At 17, I started to work more professionally. It was the first time I had a job, in advertising, with a production house. That environment really spoke to me. I want to be in that space where lots of people come together to participate in the creation of something that’s bigger than the sum of its parts.
When I was 19-20, I began to discover performance, acting. I was working at Prithvi Theatre with Sunil Shanbaug. However, none of the decisions was related to thinking about the outcome. All the ideas were related to the process, how I am able to engage.
Q. Talking about theatre, how much of an influence was your aunt Sanjana Kapoor?
My aunt was a major presence at the theatre while I was growing up. She was a guide in many ways, connecting me with people within the community at an early age. My involvement with Prithvi and management responsibilities increased only once she left, so we didn’t share space in that regard. For that learning and direction, it has been my father and he has been involved with Prithvi since inception even before my aunt was brought in.
Q. What gives you more — the stage or the screen?
They are both nourishing. Cinema is magnificent and big; it has the power to reach millions. Theatre for me is a way of keeping me grounded, of consistently doing the work. I also love the immediacy of theatre.
Q. Much of your role in Black Warrant is to do with close-ups of your face, like it’s a screen for all the goings-on.
The idea is to lean in and breathe alongside a character. And almost peer into their thoughts. It’s the sensitivity and sensibility of the filmmaker to create space for an actor to do that.
Q. Such sustained close-ups are a fine tool to depict intense drama. The same was used in IC 814. The Malayalam film Piravi also focuses on the elderly protagonist’s face for long periods...
Thank you so much for telling me about Piravi. I have already looked it up, and will surely watch it.
Q. OTT seems to be the saving grace now where cinema is concerned. Would you agree?
I completely empathise with this sense of sadness around. However, there are big beautiful films with great storytelling that take your breath away being made once in a while. I am passionate about the cinematic experience and optimistic about finding opportunities on the big screen. It’s such a core memory for me — sitting in a dark movie hall with a little popcorn. It has happened several times that if I am feeling low, I go to the theatre and watch something nice — the experience is invigorating, life-affirming.
Q. How are you handling all the adoration, particularly female adoration?
I am really not aware how much female adoration there is (laughs). I am genuinely enjoying this time when I’m able to create this distinction for myself. We may have done the work but the point is we have also been able to stimulate and receive this incredible (stretches the word) amount of love. So you see how the effort that has gone in from our side to express ourselves has resulted in a reciprocation. There is this dance, this conversation, an exchange of expression. I know how rare it is, I know it won’t happen always. This is what I value.