Anil Kapoor tours 'his' Mumbai with CNN's 'My City

Slumdog Millionaire' actor Anil Kapoor tours 'his' Mumbai with CNN's 'My City My Life'

MUMBAI: He can't walk down the street in India, without getting mobbed. Now, with the success of the film 'Slumdog Millionaire', Anil Kapoor is firmly in the global spotlight. Kapoor is a Bollywood hero and the star of CNN series 'My City My Life' airing in the first week of February.

The 49-year-old actor plays the role of the Quizmaster in Danny Boyle's coming-of-age drama about the Indian version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. The film has just scooped four top awards - including best picture and best director - at the Golden Globes. 'Slumdog Millionaire' has earned ten nominations at the 81st annual Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay and has also been nominated for eleven BAFTA awards.

In 'My City My Life', Kapoor shows us "his" Mumbai, from Asia's largest slum to the hang-outs of Bollywood's elite. Along the way Kapoor relays his own 'rags-to-riches' story and how he's reaching his dream of being an international movie star.

Talking about the spirit of Mumbai, Kapoor recalls a particular scene of his movie, Mr. India, Bollywood's science fiction superhero film where he playing the role of a mentor of the orphan kids,has no money, no food to feed them but he is cheered up by these kids who said, 'don't worry we will sleep without food'. That scene very much shows the spirit of Mumbai and the spirit of these children, in spite of not having anything to eat and no money - still they are full of life and they have a lot of hope," Kapoor added.

On his experience of working in Slumdog Millionaire and the film's portrayal of Mumbai, Kapoor expressed, "Slumdog is like my story, I also started from scratch, from rags to riches, I started in Chembur (Mumbai suburb) and I slowly climbed and god has been kind in that way." He further added, "It's a fairytale, basically a love story but shot in a very realistic way. The film is not choreographed at all, it's very natural and real, there is nothing which is exaggerated or nothing which is downplayed. There is the other side of Mumbai where the rich and the poor live comfortably and live with each other without any problems."


Sharing his thoughts on the changed sentiments of Mumbaikars and people of India post the terrorist attacks, Kapoor said, "The recent terrorist attacks is basically the third major thing which has happened in Mumbai. There are few incidents which have taken place and this has shaken the country and all of us. We started questioning ourselves, why weren't we ready enough? So we have to pull up our socks and that is what the country, the city is doing, I can see that. People are still angry, people are still upset, people are still insecure, people are still scared, all these emotions are still there. You find everything normal but internally there is a certain sense of insecurity definitely. I think this has really united the whole country and united everybody in Mumbai and I'm sure we are trying our best to ensure this doesn't happen again."