Bollywood actor Karan Kapadia has been busy promoting his full-length debut film, Blank, which is out in UAE cinemas tomorrow.
Its trailer generated strong interest among cinema-goers, with Kapadia playing a terrorist with a bomb strapped to his body but who loses his memory and ends up becoming a target. The plot of the film, which also marks the directorial debut of Behzad Khambata, has been kept under wraps.
Kapadia comes from an illustrious family of film stars. His mother, Simple, acted in several films, and maternal aunt Dimple was a popular actress who married 1970s superstar Rajesh Khanna. Dimple's daughter, Twinkle Khanna, acted in a few films before marrying Akshay Kumar.
Although Kapdia gets riled up when asked about his feelings ahead of his debut, he is unusually calm when asked about nepotism.
Pointing to the fact that he has already done a short film, Crescendo, and auditioned many times without trading on his connections, Kapadia says: "I always say I am not getting launched, I got a break."
Nevertheless, veteran actor Sunny Deol, who also has a leading role in Blank, is a family friend and a star in his own right.
Kapadia's brother-in-law, Akshay Kumar, has also done his bit by recording a song, the only one in the movie, which will appear at the film's end credits.
"That happened after the shooting was complete," Kapadia explains. "When he saw the film rushes, he said he wanted to wish me luck and appreciate my work. It was the production team's call."
Incidentally, it was during the shoot of Akshay Kumar's film Boss three years ago, when Khambata, an assistant director at the time, met Kapadia on the set, discussed the project and chose him for the role, even though the producers were not on board at the time. Clearly, there is some merit in Kapadia's argument that although he belongs to a family of actors, he is not someone who was given his opportunities on a silver platter.
Even in promoting the film, Kapadia is mostly fighting his own battles. That's because Deol has taken the plunge into politics and is running as a candidate for the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party in the ongoing Indian elections.
Vishal Rana, co-producer of Blank, says the role fell to Kapadia after his audition because the script demanded a fresh face. "We wanted a boy without an image, someone who hasn't done action or comedy or anything. We wanted somebody who can look the part of a terrorist, yet not have a past image so that the audience can relate to the character.
“It is an unconventional launch, yes [for Karan].
"That's why we spoke to Dimple ji. Once she said 'yes', he was on board," Rana says. Getting Deol was also a natural development, he says, while disclosing that the film was made for 200 million rupees (Dh10.5m).
At a media event in Mumbai, Khambata said that Deol was the only name they could think of to play the head of an anti-terrorism squad.
“Actually, we had Sunny and Sanjay Dutt in mind. Rajkumar Santoshi [a veteran director who has worked with Deol] is a neighbour and he recommended Sunny more. And when we approached Sunny first, he agreed, which was great,” Rana reveals.
Even though Deol has been close to the Kapadia household, the young actor admits he was nervous. "Both Sunny and Akshay only advised me that it is hard work ahead and I should stay calm. My first scene was an interrogation by Sunny, so even if I was a bit nervous, it didn't show. After the first few days, I was fine," he says.
Kapadia's effort to launch a career in films has taken three long years to come to fruition. And he is hoping there will be no more blanks after this.
Blank releases on Thursday in UAE
