The fortuitous journey of ‘Crime Master’ Shakti Kapoor

Shakti Kapoor looks back on getting into the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune and then making the move to Mumbai.

How it all began for Shakti Kapoor

‘This was in 1973, when 40,000 aspiring actors from across the country were vying for the 10 seats that were up for grabs at the country’s premier film school. And one of them had no idea he was even in the running till he got a letter from the institute informing him that he had been selected for the written test,’ Shakti Kapoor reminisces with a laugh. Even as he was wondering how he had come to be selected, the friend called and admitted to having filled the form on his behalf, and persuaded him to take the test. He found it surprisingly easy and passed with flying colours.

He was then called for the audition, for which he was coached by his friends. He walked into the venue, a classroom of Delhi Public School, and did a double take. Seated before him were Ashok Kumar, Kamini Kaushal and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. ‘I rushed forward and touched their feet, asking for their ashirwad [blessings] and admitting to being a huge fan. Smiling indulgently, they reminded me that I was there for an audition. Since time was short, I should start reading out my lines,’ he shares.

Since he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be selected because he had no background in acting, Shakti Kapoor was relaxed and unfazed even when he jumbled up his lines. He improvised as he went along, touched their feet once he had finished and left the veteran actors and director smiling. He hadn’t expected to hear from the FTII again. So, it came as a shock when he got a telegram a month later informing him that of the three selected from Delhi, he was one. Naseeruddin Shah and Anil Varman were the other two. ‘My friends were convinced my father had bribed the FTII board, which is how I had got through,’ he chuckles.

There was one screen test still left to be cleared, but by then even he knew it was only a formality; for the first time, he began to think of himself as an actor. ‘You may not have a godfather but God wants you to be an actor,’ he would tell his reflection as he stood in front of the mirror. His doting mother agreed with him and urged him to reach for the stars.

In the second term of his second year at FTII, Arjun Hingorani, who had launched Sadhana in his debut directorial, the Sindhi film Abana (1958), and two years later, Dharmendra in a Hindi film, Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (1960), came to the institute looking for three fresh faces to cast in his film Khel Khilari Ka (1977), which already boasted of big names like Dharmendra, Hema Malini and Shabana Azmi. He signed three students – Dhruv, Phunsok Ladhakhi and Shakti Kapoor. ‘And that was how even before I passed out of the institute, I had started shooting for my first film,’ shares the actor. Years later, Naseeruddin Shah acknowledged that Shakti was one of the best students in the class, while he himself was a backbencher.

Arjun Hingorani had an office in the now-defunct Roop Tara Studios in Dadar, Bombay. One day, while Shakti Kapoor was visiting, he learnt that Sunil Dutt was shooting in the studio. The next day, with some specially shot photographs, he went knocking on the door of the actor’s make-up room during lunch break. A voice from inside shouted, ‘Come in.’ As he tentatively opened the door and peeped in, he saw Sunil Dutt sprawled out on the sofa inside, his head hanging over the edge. As he stood hovering nervously on the threshold, the senior actor looked up, straight at him. Even though he was disconcerted by the intense scrutiny, Shakti worked up the courage to walk up to Dutt and touch his feet respectfully. He was motioned to sit down, and taking a chair, he hesitatingly offered the photographs, telling Dutt that he wanted to be an actor like him.

The senior actor, rifling through the photographs, told the boy he had expressive eyes and asked him to drop by his Ajanta Arts office. When Shakti Kapoor went across, he was offered a role in Yari Dushmani (1980). Produced by the senior actor’s younger brother Som Dutt, it had Sunil Dutt in the lead, with Shakti playing a bandit. ‘I became an Ajanta Arts boy and was put on a monthly retainer of `1,500,’ he says.

Soon after, he was signed to play the villain, R.D., in Rocky (1981), produced and directed by Sunil Dutt. It marked the debut of his son, Sanjay Dutt. ‘Dutt-sahab loved and treated me like his own son and I didn’t have the guts to tell him that I had already signed Arjun Hingorani’s film,’ his protégé admits sheepishly.

Around this time, another actor-filmmaker, Feroz Khan, ran into Shakti Kapoor, quite literally. His swanky Mercedes hit the younger actor’s 1961 Fiat from behind. Furious, Shakti got out to abuse the driver, but one look at Khan and his anger dissipated. ‘I told him my name was Sunil Kapoor, I was a graduate of the FTII and wanted to be an actor, requesting him for a break,’ he admits with a laugh, recalling that the star-filmmaker simply growled at him for damaging his car and drove off, even as the crowd of stargazers who had quickly gathered hooted at the younger actor.

That evening, after taking his car to the garage, a famished Shakti Kapoor dropped by K.K. Shukla’s place. He was a favourite of the writer and his actress-wife Daisy Irani and was immediately invited to dinner by her. While he was sitting in the living room, Shukla, who had penned the screenplays of big films like Khoon Pasina (1977) and Suhaag (1979), walked in looking thoroughly disgruntled. Spotting Shakti, he grumbled, ‘Tera kismet kharab hai [Fortune doesn’t favour you], I had been pushing for you for the villain’s role in a very big film, but Feroz Khan now insists on casting some crazy actor who banged into his car this afternoon because of the menace he saw in his eyes.’

Shakti couldn’t believe his ears. Jumping up, he told the bemused writer that he was that crazy actor. Shukla immediately called the filmmaker to tell him he had found the boy, and Shakti went on to sign FK International’s Qurbani (1980).

Excerpted with permission from Bad Men – Bollywood’s Iconic Villains, Roshmila Bhattacharya, Rupa Publications.