“I like being bankable!”
With Shakti Kapoor as her father, Shraddha Kapoor was born to make inroads into Bollywood. Yet, no one ever cushioned her blows. None of the Khans have worked with her, though her father insists that Salman Khan was ready to launch her when she was only 16. She walked out of a Yash Raj film, before she found a footing in the industry. Dharma didn’t ever invest in her. Yet, Shraddha Kapoor has a body of work that no other industry kid can boast about. Soon completing her first decade in the industry, Shraddha has already rubbed the big guns the wrong way, stuffed herself with prosthetics in Haseena and given the industry its first horror comedy called Stree. With films like Chhichhore, Saaho, Street Dancer 3D, there is no stopping this pocket-sized lady.
Street Dancer 3D is nearing 50Crs of collection within the first week of release. Yet, it might have been a difficult choice to make for you! What was the feeling like to give up one film in favour of another?
Saina, the biopic on Saina Nehwal, was something that I was really looking forward to doing. I had already started the training, and done the much-needed ground work. I even met her family. We were set on giving our best. But then it became apparent that I would not be able to work on Saina and Street Dancer 3D simultaneously. It was very difficult to let Saina go, but I wouldn’t say I had much of a choice. I cannot say no to Remo (Dsouza) Sir. He is my mentor. I will do what he expects me to do, with my eyes closed. I have been his student for a long time. So it had to be Street Dancer!
Given your rapport with Remo Sir, was it tough knowing that you were not the first choice for Street Dancer?
When Katrina Kaif was signed on for Street Dancer, it was known to all. It didn’t come a surprise to me at all. However, the fact that they needed me to step up was. But it was one of those happy surprises. As for me not being the first choice for the film, that doesn’t bother me at all. One cannot think on those terms out here. The way I see it, I lost out on Saina and got Street Dancer, I am happy! I am sure Pari (Parineeti Chopra who is doing the Saina biopic now) is happy and I am sure, Katrina Kaif is happy too. One just needs to be happy with what they have got.
Yet sometimes one doesn’t get what they were almost sure to receive. I am talking about your film with Bahubali actor, Prabhas. Saaho didn’t get the kind of response one was hoping for, though it was a hit in its own way. Did the lack of numbers disappoint you?
I am very fortunate in a way ‘cause I have had to face disappointments very early in my career. In the
very beginning my films like Teen Patti (despite starring the likes of Mr. Bachchan and Sir Ben Kingsley) and Love Ka The End (being a YRF film) didn’t do well for me at all. I learnt to take the blow on my chin pretty early in life. Disappointments only make me work harder. Having said that, Saaho was no disappointment for me. In fact, it is one of my most cherished films. The film got so much love from fans and audience that nothing that the critics said mattered. I just opened my arms out wide and took all the love that the audience was showering for me to keep me warm against the cold critics. I don’t blame them, they were perhaps expecting a Bahubali again, but Saaho was a completely different genre and film.
Are you saying that failure doesn’t get to you?
I couldn’t lie that blatantly! Of course, it hurts to fail. You work hard on a film, you really have a connect – I wouldn’t say emotional connect alone because it is physical, professional and emotional too and then one fine Friday it releases and goes out of the theatres without a whimper. You don’t know how all your hard work didn’t translate into a box office success. When Haseena tanked, I was stumped for a while. However, there is one thing you should know; dealing with failure is a lot easy than dealing with success. The moment you fail to deal with success correctly, you will fail for good.
That’s a great philosophy to have and perhaps the reason you have managed success so well. Two of your films Stree and Chhichhore managed to do the impossible while making the audience laugh. The first scared the audience, the second taught the audience a great deal
– all between jokes. What did it feel like being a part of such cinema?
You know I would like to consider myself the flagbearer for the ‘magic of content’. Believe me, these two films have taught me so much about what cinema can do, what cinema can achieve that many others have not even attempted. It does make me the first of a sort, doesn’t it? (laughs)
Jokes apart, what I am trying to say here is that we have good content, we just need to show faith in it. I am so glad that movies like these are being made today and selfishly I am gladder that there are directors and
producers out there who have the faith in me to do such diverse cinema.
Well you have been, unofficially as yet, declared as the highest grossing actress in Bollywood. The numbers you are pulling in, that might be bringing on half of that faith.
I am not aware of this number game and I don’t really think about it as much. For me, I am happy, delighted and satisfied that my films are bringing me so much love from my fans. I loved keeping busy, churning out one film after another. It was a happy year, 2019 and I can only hope that it is followed by yet another good year for me. Never know when the tide will turn… all I want is to be known as a bankable star, that’s good enough for
me.
You have no reason to be pessimistic…
In the past my career has not been averse to ups and downs, so I am not being pessimistic, I am being a realist. I have been on a constant wave since the time I have joined movies, so I know it is important to bask in the
sun while it is still shining. And also, you cannot be pessimistic or negative while you are planning a family holiday at the back of your mind, now can you? I can barely sit straight thinking about it even now…
I have always heard you speak about wanting more family time, so I am happy for you, but I am also wondering why doesn’t a young girl like you go out with her friends on a trip ever?
My closest pals are those who know me from school; of course I have made friends out here in the industry but I like the separate life I have with my school friends. I don’t like to talk much about it, because firstly they are not from the industry and they have a completely different rapport with me. I don’t want to mix my work with that side of my personal life.
Speaking about school friends, do tell us how it was being in school and being known as Shakti Kapoor’s daughter out here. Were there instances where you felt you were getting a raw deal due to the attention etc?
It was the exact opposite! It was a boon all through, I was a very tomboy kind of girl in school, into sports and as such being Shakti Kapoor’s daughter, or should I say the daughter of a Bollywood baddie, really helped. I didn’t get bothered by boys (which was a little of a flip side when I was a teenager) No one ever took a panga with me, it worked well to have people know who I go home to.
And yet you have left that part of you so far behind, now your proud father is known as Shraddha Kapoor’s dad. Are you happy with all that has happened or are there still dreams that are unfulfilled?
My dream is to be ‘remembered’; I want to leave a body of work that will make people remember me long after I have hung my boots. Not just my father, my mother too comes from the famous Mangeshkar family, they are
the Mughals of the music industry. When you come from such a tradition, having something that’s yours and yours alone, making your own contribution to the wealth of this tradition becomes important. After a point, it
cannot be about money. Maybe because I am born in a family that has always been affluent, so I can be flippant about money matters. But I think I know what’s enough, what’s sufficient in terms of money. And what I value more – in terms of work.
