Posted:
Sonam Kapoor: Superstar in the Making?
Ever since Kajol stopped being active in films and ditto Madhuri Dixit, no one among the biggest names today ' not even Aishwarya, Katrina, Lara or Deepika, for all their charms ' has had that standout mix of charisma, talent, looks, range and the X-factor. So will Anil Kapoor's star daughter, Sonam Kapoor, fill the vacuum opposite Bollywood's five-male-superstar batallion? And if the lady began her career with two flops, so what? Neither Kajol nor Dixit were built in a day.
Warm yet cool, effervescent and garrulous, Kapoor seems like a hot contender for the Next Big Thing with "Aisha," which is based on Jane Austen's "Emma" and directed by Rajshree Ojha.
Excerpts from a phone interview with two tag-teaming India-West reporters:
Q: Do you agree with your director that Aisha is a gray character?
A: I think she looks at it that way because she makes a lot of mistakes and is no Sati Savitri ' or the reverse. This is a coming-of-age film and for Aisha, that process is painful yet exciting. We all are neither black nor white anyway. Also, when you choose your life-partner, it should be after a girl has accepted herself the way she is. Aisha isn't like that. She is in her own world and not in touch with reality. She is like a doll in a doll's house.
Q: What would you say if I told you that you are the next superstar and that I am saying it seriously?
A: (Laughs away) Thank you! Well, all I can say that I hope that I live up to your expectations! I am very ambitious, but I look only for great roles; I do not sign a film in a premeditated fashion because it can benefit me professionally. I just want to do lots of very good, challenging roles, and even "Aisha" was one such case. I like to be professional and honest to my work. That's what I have picked up from my father after his long innings in the industry. His career graph has been a fascinating, successful journey of a genuine talent.
Q: How is he with you professionally?
A: Personally, he's a super father, but in our workspace, I guess he's a bit harder on me because he expects a lot from me!
Q: And how's the equation with your sister Rhea, also a co-producer in "Aisha" along with your dad?
A: Again, on the sets, she's very professional. When that terrible fire broke out on our sets, I burst into tears. Everyone was hassled, but Rhea was super-cool and managed all of us and the terrible chain of events! We are really opposites who make up for each other. All I can say finally is that it is the producer who really makes the film, and Rhea is the tough one who made "Aisha"!
Q: Your three pre-"Aisha" directors ranged from Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whom you also assisted; Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who has his style; newbie Punit Malhotra with a mainstream sensibility and finally the one-film-old, USA-trained Rajshree Ojha. What did you learn from each of them?
A: I guess I like to go with the films I do. The films were all different and all these directors were open and receptive and I would ask a lot of questions. Sanjay Uncle in particular would listen to everyone and encourage questions, and that even when I was assisting him on "Black."
Q: Were you a fan of Jane Austen before you did "Aisha"?
A: I was talking to my friend Aarti, and I told her this is a very special novel and it would be very interesting if you adapted it to Delhi or something like that and made it into a movie. Aarti owns a production house, and she said, "That's really weird, we have this script based on Emma. It's right here in my office."
It was fantastic. It was sweet, it was funny, it was everything I'd expected out of an adaptation of Emma, because it's one of my favorite books.
Q: In what ways did they Indianize the story?
A: Fortunately or unfortunately, not much has changed since the Victorian ages. There's still the caste system, there are still parties, and everyone asks you what your address is and where you stay, and that's how they kind of judge who you are. The only thing that has changed are the clothes and the dances. You're not waltzing any more, you are in a dance club gyrating to some music, or doing the salsa or wearing skimpy clothes.
Q: The clothes seem unique for a Hindi film. Tell me about the look and what it was like for you as an actor to work in those costumes.
A: We're not trying to make "Sex and the City" or "Gossip Girl" or any of those things. It was something relevant, because in Jane Austen novels it was very, very important for the girls to be very well dressed. So you needed something that was aspirational. These days, girls aspire to be well-dressed, to wear high-end designer clothes. What we're doing in "Aisha" is more real than any other Bollywood film.
Q: Speaking of fashion, I was looking online at news headlines about you this morning, and I saw that the top headline was your pants falling down while you were doing a promotion at 98.3 FM Radio Mirchi. You know you've made the big time when it makes front page news when your pants fall down. 😆
A: It's hilarious. I got to this radio thing and I didn't realize that I'd lost a lot of weight. I'd been eating junk food but still I'd been losing weight for whatever reason. I'd bought these pants two weeks ago from Top Shop, they're like Size 2 pants.
I don't have a stylist or anyone who does this stuff for me. There's nobody to fix me and say this is fine, or that's fine. But I've learned my lesson and I'm not going to do that from now on!
Q: But the point is also that you are now enough of a public figure that it even makes news.
A: Believe me, everything I do makes news. I eat chocolate, it makes news. 😆
Q: What is that like? And how has your dad prepared you for a life like that?
A: It's amusing. It's a lot of fun. I don't take it very seriously. If you take yourself so seriously and think, "What are they saying? How can they say that?" that only happens when you take yourself too seriously. You should just have a good time and take it with a bunch of salt.
Because if somebody is writing about you, or saying things about you, that doesn't speak for you. It speaks for who they are. If they're writing crap, that just says that they're mean, nasty people. That doesn't mean that you're a mean, nasty person. You have to be wise about it. Otherwise you will be an emotional wreck. 👏
Q: Do you get to the U.S. very often?
A: I love America. I love New York; I could make it my second home. My dad's second home is L.A. and he and my mom love L.A., but if anywhere, I would love to live in New York. Where are you based?
Q: San Francisco.
A: Oh, Frisco, that's a party place!
http://www.indiawest.com/readmore.aspx?id=2400&sid=3
| By LISA TSERING AND R.M. VIJAYAKAR | |
| indiawest.com |
Ever since Kajol stopped being active in films and ditto Madhuri Dixit, no one among the biggest names today ' not even Aishwarya, Katrina, Lara or Deepika, for all their charms ' has had that standout mix of charisma, talent, looks, range and the X-factor. So will Anil Kapoor's star daughter, Sonam Kapoor, fill the vacuum opposite Bollywood's five-male-superstar batallion? And if the lady began her career with two flops, so what? Neither Kajol nor Dixit were built in a day.
Warm yet cool, effervescent and garrulous, Kapoor seems like a hot contender for the Next Big Thing with "Aisha," which is based on Jane Austen's "Emma" and directed by Rajshree Ojha.
Excerpts from a phone interview with two tag-teaming India-West reporters:
Q: Do you agree with your director that Aisha is a gray character?
A: I think she looks at it that way because she makes a lot of mistakes and is no Sati Savitri ' or the reverse. This is a coming-of-age film and for Aisha, that process is painful yet exciting. We all are neither black nor white anyway. Also, when you choose your life-partner, it should be after a girl has accepted herself the way she is. Aisha isn't like that. She is in her own world and not in touch with reality. She is like a doll in a doll's house.
Q: What would you say if I told you that you are the next superstar and that I am saying it seriously?
A: (Laughs away) Thank you! Well, all I can say that I hope that I live up to your expectations! I am very ambitious, but I look only for great roles; I do not sign a film in a premeditated fashion because it can benefit me professionally. I just want to do lots of very good, challenging roles, and even "Aisha" was one such case. I like to be professional and honest to my work. That's what I have picked up from my father after his long innings in the industry. His career graph has been a fascinating, successful journey of a genuine talent.
Q: How is he with you professionally?
A: Personally, he's a super father, but in our workspace, I guess he's a bit harder on me because he expects a lot from me!
Q: And how's the equation with your sister Rhea, also a co-producer in "Aisha" along with your dad?
A: Again, on the sets, she's very professional. When that terrible fire broke out on our sets, I burst into tears. Everyone was hassled, but Rhea was super-cool and managed all of us and the terrible chain of events! We are really opposites who make up for each other. All I can say finally is that it is the producer who really makes the film, and Rhea is the tough one who made "Aisha"!
Q: Your three pre-"Aisha" directors ranged from Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whom you also assisted; Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who has his style; newbie Punit Malhotra with a mainstream sensibility and finally the one-film-old, USA-trained Rajshree Ojha. What did you learn from each of them?
A: I guess I like to go with the films I do. The films were all different and all these directors were open and receptive and I would ask a lot of questions. Sanjay Uncle in particular would listen to everyone and encourage questions, and that even when I was assisting him on "Black."
Q: Were you a fan of Jane Austen before you did "Aisha"?
A: I was talking to my friend Aarti, and I told her this is a very special novel and it would be very interesting if you adapted it to Delhi or something like that and made it into a movie. Aarti owns a production house, and she said, "That's really weird, we have this script based on Emma. It's right here in my office."
It was fantastic. It was sweet, it was funny, it was everything I'd expected out of an adaptation of Emma, because it's one of my favorite books.
Q: In what ways did they Indianize the story?
A: Fortunately or unfortunately, not much has changed since the Victorian ages. There's still the caste system, there are still parties, and everyone asks you what your address is and where you stay, and that's how they kind of judge who you are. The only thing that has changed are the clothes and the dances. You're not waltzing any more, you are in a dance club gyrating to some music, or doing the salsa or wearing skimpy clothes.
Q: The clothes seem unique for a Hindi film. Tell me about the look and what it was like for you as an actor to work in those costumes.
A: We're not trying to make "Sex and the City" or "Gossip Girl" or any of those things. It was something relevant, because in Jane Austen novels it was very, very important for the girls to be very well dressed. So you needed something that was aspirational. These days, girls aspire to be well-dressed, to wear high-end designer clothes. What we're doing in "Aisha" is more real than any other Bollywood film.
Q: Speaking of fashion, I was looking online at news headlines about you this morning, and I saw that the top headline was your pants falling down while you were doing a promotion at 98.3 FM Radio Mirchi. You know you've made the big time when it makes front page news when your pants fall down. 😆
A: It's hilarious. I got to this radio thing and I didn't realize that I'd lost a lot of weight. I'd been eating junk food but still I'd been losing weight for whatever reason. I'd bought these pants two weeks ago from Top Shop, they're like Size 2 pants.
I don't have a stylist or anyone who does this stuff for me. There's nobody to fix me and say this is fine, or that's fine. But I've learned my lesson and I'm not going to do that from now on!
Q: But the point is also that you are now enough of a public figure that it even makes news.
A: Believe me, everything I do makes news. I eat chocolate, it makes news. 😆
Q: What is that like? And how has your dad prepared you for a life like that?
A: It's amusing. It's a lot of fun. I don't take it very seriously. If you take yourself so seriously and think, "What are they saying? How can they say that?" that only happens when you take yourself too seriously. You should just have a good time and take it with a bunch of salt.
Because if somebody is writing about you, or saying things about you, that doesn't speak for you. It speaks for who they are. If they're writing crap, that just says that they're mean, nasty people. That doesn't mean that you're a mean, nasty person. You have to be wise about it. Otherwise you will be an emotional wreck. 👏
Q: Do you get to the U.S. very often?
A: I love America. I love New York; I could make it my second home. My dad's second home is L.A. and he and my mom love L.A., but if anywhere, I would love to live in New York. Where are you based?
Q: San Francisco.
A: Oh, Frisco, that's a party place!
http://www.indiawest.com/readmore.aspx?id=2400&sid=3
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