Rajat Kapoor | |
|---|---|
 Rajat Kapoor at the International Film Festival of India 2014 | |
| Born | |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouse |
Meenal Agrawal (m. 1996) |
| Children | 2 |
Rajat Kapoor is an Indian actor, filmmaker and playwright who works in Hindi cinema.[1]
Early life and early career
[edit]Rajat Kapoor was born in Delhi, India and grew up in Old Delhi.[2] In 1983 he joined the theatre group Chingari in Delhi. In 1985 he moved to Pune to attend the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).[1]
Kapoor started out in Parallel Cinema, making his debut in the 1989 Kumar Shahani film Khayal Gatha. When he had trouble finding acting jobs in the 1990s, Kapoor began writing and directing shorts. He made his full-length directorial debut with Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One (1997), which had Irrfan Khan and Naseeruddin Shah in minor roles.[1]
Mainstream breakthrough and continued career
[edit]In 2001, Kapoor got his big mainstream break-in Dil Chahta Hai, as Preity Zinta's character's uncle. He received international attention in Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding in which he played an abusive uncle. Since then, he has written, directed, and appeared in many films. He played Muhammad Ali Jinnah in a UK television film The Last Days of the Raj in 2007. In 2003, he wrote and directed the independent film Raghu Romeo, which he financed by sending e-mail requests for money to his friends. Although it was not a box office success, the film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. He then directed and starred in Mixed Doubles, a film that deals with swinging in contemporary Mumbai.[1] In 2008 he directed a sleeper hit Mithya. He was also nominated for Best Performance by an Actor for Siddharth: The Prisoner at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In the year 2010, he has also starred in a Bengali movie Iti Mrinalini opposite Konkona Sen directed by Bengali film writer Aparna Sen.
Apart from films, Kapoor hosts the tri-weekly chat show Lounge telecasted by NDTV Good Times.[3] He also worked in television shows, including Rishtey which was aired on Zee TV in the episode "Milan".[4] Tired of pitching his stories to investors, Kapoor reached out to his friend Chet Jainn, founder of the crowdfunding platform goCrowdera.com to raise initial seed fund for his next film called RkRkay.[5][6][7][8] The "RkRkay" crowdfunding campaign went on to raise over ₹35,00,000.[9]
Kapoor is a three time National Award winner, first for his 26-minute non-feature documentary, Tarana, then for his short, Hypnothesis, and after that for Raghu Romeo in Best Feature Film in Hindi section.[10]
Personal life
[edit]Kapoor married Meenal Agarwal, a photographer-production designer in 1996[11] and has two children, a daughter Rabia and a son Vivan.[1] Kapoor is an atheist, and he has said he believes God is a man-made concept.[12]
Allegations of sexual harassment
[edit]In October 2018, Kapoor was accused of sexual harassment by two different women during the Me Too movement. One, a journalist, said that he made inappropriate comments during a telephone interview.[13] Following these accusations, Kapoor apologised on Twitter, saying "I am sorry from the bottom of my heart – and sad that I was the cause of this hurt to another human being."[14] His film Kadakh was dropped from the 20th MAMI Film Festival due to the allegations.[15]
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Film | Functioned As | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Screenwriter | Actor | Role | |||
| 1989 | Khayal Gatha | Yes | Several characters | Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics) Premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival | |||
| 1994 | Tarana | Yes | National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film | ||||
| 1996 | Hypnothesis | Yes | National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film | ||||
| 1997 | Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2001 | Dil Chahta Hai | Yes | Mahesh | ||||
| Monsoon Wedding | Yes | Tej Puri | |||||
| 2003 | Raghu Romeo | Yes | Yes | National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi | |||
| Mudda: The Issue | Yes | Harphool Singh | |||||
| 2004 | Tum | Yes | Vinod Gupta | ||||
| 2005 | Dhadkanein | Yes | |||||
| Kisna: The Warrior Poet | Yes | Prince Raghuraj | |||||
| Chehraa | Yes | ||||||
| 2006 | Mixed Doubles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Vinod | ||
| Corporate | Yes | Vinay Sehgal | |||||
| Yun Hota To Kya Hota | Yes | US Consulate Officer | |||||
| Bombay Skies | Yes | Anand | Short film | ||||
| Anuranan | Yes | Amit Bannerjee | Simultaneously shot in Hindi and Bengali | ||||
| 2007 | The Last Days of the Raj | Yes | Muhammad Ali Jinnah | TV film | |||
| Bheja Fry | Yes | Ranjeet Thadani | |||||
| Apna Asmaan | Yes | Dr. Sen | |||||
| Hamlet: The Clown Prince | Yes | Play | |||||
| Khoya Khoya Chand | Yes | Prem Kumar | |||||
| 2008 | Mithya | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Krazzy 4 | Yes | Ravi K. Sanyal | |||||
| Via Darjeeling | Yes | Ronodeep 'Rono' Sen | |||||
| Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na | Yes | Mahesh Pariyar | |||||
| Hulla | Yes | Janardhan | |||||
| Dasvidaniya | Yes | Rajiv Jhulka | |||||
| 2009 | I M 24 | Yes | Shubendu Roy | ||||
| Ek Tho Chance | Yes | ||||||
| Siddharth: The Prisoner | Yes | Siddharth Roy | |||||
| Teree Sang | Yes | Barrister Mohit Puri | |||||
| Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rahul Kapoor | |||
| 2010 | Rann | Yes | Naveen Shankalya | ||||
| That Girl in Yellow Boots | Yes | Man Who Steps Out of Elevator | Premiered in South Asian International Film Festival 2010 | ||||
| Pappu Can't Dance Saala | Yes | Palash | Premiered in South Asian International Film Festival 2010 | ||||
| ...And Once Again | Yes | Rishi | |||||
| Iti Mrinalini | Yes | Siddhartha Sarkar | |||||
| Phas Gaye Re Obama | Yes | Om Shastri | |||||
| 2011 | Jo Dooba So Paar: It's Love In Bihar! | Yes | Superintendent of Police | ||||
| Nothing Like Lear | Yes | Play | |||||
| 2012 | Agent Vinod | Yes | ISI chief Lt-Gen Iftekhar Ahmed | ||||
| Fatso! | Yes | Yes | |||||
| The Owner | Yes | ||||||
| 10ml LOVE | Yes | Ghalib | |||||
| Midnight's Children | Yes | Aadam Aziz | |||||
| 2013 | Carpet Boy | Yes | Ehsaan Khan | ||||
| 2014 | Ankhon Dekhi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rishi | Won – Star Screen Award for Best Story Won - Filmfare Award for Best Story Won - Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics) | |
| 2015 | Drishyam | Yes | Mahesh Deshmukh | ||||
| X: Past Is Present | Yes | K | |||||
| 2016 | Kapoor & Sons | Yes | Harsh Kapoor | Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor | |||
| Mantra | Yes | Kapil Kapoor | |||||
| 2017 | Rat Race - Ek Andhi Daud | Yes | Akhil | Short film | |||
| 2018 | Pari | Yes | Professor Quasim Aali | [16] | |||
| Mulk | Yes | Danish Javed[17] | |||||
| 2020 | Kadakh | Yes | Yes | Yes | Author Rahul | ||
| 2022 | Gehraiyaan | Yes | Jitesh | ||||
| RK/RKay | Yes | Yes | Yes | RK / Mahboob | |||
| Drishyam 2 | Yes | Mahesh Deshmukh | [18] | ||||
| 2023 | Anur | Yes | IAS Loshit Modliar | Assamese film[19] | |||
| 2023 | Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa | Yes | Chandra | ||||
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Language | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-1998 | Junoon | Pappu | Hindi | Doordarshan |
| 1999-2000 | Gubbare | Sharad | Hindi | Zee TV |
| 2000-2003 | Gharwali Uparwali (one episode only) | Advertising Agency Boss | Hindi | Star Plus |
| 2005 | C.I.D (two episodes only) | Tanuj | Hindi | Sony TV |
| 2008 | Gateway To Hollywood[20] | Judge | Hindi | Sony TV |
| 2014-2015 | Everest | Ramesh Rungta | Hindi | Star Plus |
| 2017-2019 | The Good Karma Hospital | Amit Nambeesan | English | ITV |
| 2020 | Code M | Col. Suryaveer Chauhan | Hindi | ALTBalaji/Zee5 |
| Shobdo Jobdo | Sougata | Bengali | Hoichoi | |
| Scam 1992 | K. Madhavan | Hindi | SonyLIV | |
| 2021 | Call My Agent: Bollywood | Montie Bahl | Hindi | Netflix |
| 2022 | Tanaav[21] | Jagjit Malik | Hindi | SonyLIV |
| 2023 | Jehanabad - Of Love & War | Shivanand Singh | Hindi | SonyLIV |
| 2024 | Lootere | Captain A.K. Singh | Hindi | Disney+ Hotstar |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Jagan, Negi (25 February 2006). "Big on the small film". Telegraph portal. The Telegraph (Calcutta). Archived from the original on 27 May 2006. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
- ^ Pratyush Patra (28 January 2017). "Rajat Kapoor: 25 years back there was nothing called Gurgaon". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ "Lounge". Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
- ^ "MILAN". Rishtey Portal. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
- ^ Pani, Priyanka (8 August 2017). "A crowd-fund in need is a friend indeed!". @businessline. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ "How crowdfunding has opened up new avenue of financing for filmmakers". Moneycontrol. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ www.ETtech.com. "Actor-director Rajat Kapoor partners Crowdera to raise funds for upcoming movies - ETtech". The Economic Times. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ "Rajat Kapoor plans to make 'RK/R Kay' through crowdfunding". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ^ "RK/R Kay - Crowd-Produced Feature Film by Rajat Kapoor by Mithya Talkies". GoCrowdera. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ "Gateway- Rajat Kapoor".
- ^ Nichola, Pais (19 December 2014). ""Marriage is meant to last" – Rajat Kapoor". FPJ Desk. Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
- ^ Priyankee Saikia (28 January 2014). "10 Indian Celebs Who Are Proclaimed Atheists". mensxp.com. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ Entertainment, Quint (8 October 2018). "#MeToo: "Rajat Kapoor Tried to Kiss Me Repeatedly, I Was 20"". TheQuint. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (8 October 2018). "Actor Rajat Kapoor Apologizes On Twitter Following Harassment Claims As Bollywood Feels The #MeToo Force". Deadline. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Rajat Kapoor and AIB's films dropped from 20th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival". The Indian Express. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ "Pari new screamer: Anushka Sharma will scare the living daylights out of you". hindustantimes.com/. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
- ^ "Rishi Kapoor surprises fans with his new look for Mulq. Then shares 102 Not Out bonanza pic". hindustantimes.com/. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ "Ajay Devgn and Shriya Saran begin Drishyam 2 shoot in Goa; Abhishek Pathak to direct". Bollywood Hungama. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ "'Anur' review: Navigating the undercurrents of old age". The News Mill. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
- ^ "Sony Pix announces winner of Gateway". 13 May 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ "'Tanaav,' Indian adaptation of 'Fauda' to stream on Sony LIV from November 11". The Hindu. 18 October 2022 – via www.thehindu.com.
External links
[edit]
- Rajat Kapoor at IMDb
