Bollywood legend Rishi Kapoor will be in Dubai to promote his autobiography, Khullam Khulla.
However, this tour will not be the usual book reading and meet-and-greet scenario.
The 64-year-old veteran, and star of hits Do Dooni Chaar and Kapoor & Sons, will perform key moments, anecdotes and snippets from his memoir at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Friday, turning promotion into a fully-fledged one man show.
This will be the first time Kapoor has taken the format to the public – he tried it out in a private Indian premiere for friends and family.
More than the decent sales, the book has been attracting attention thanks to Kapoor’s typically honest take on life, loves and career.
The most controversial of these is the actor’s revelation that he believes he “bought” his Filmfare Award for the 1973 movie Bobby.
He paid someone Rs30,000 (Dh1,693) to guarantee he would take home the prize – one of Bollywood’s highest accolades.
“I did something very stupid early in my career when I was just 21 years of age,” says the veteran, who has starred in more than 100 films. “Someone said to me ‘you can buy an award’ and I said ‘yes’, and did that.
“I wanted to get that off my conscience and admit this sin that I committed. I didn’t have to say it, no one would ever have known, but I did do it.
“I didn’t pay the actual people who were in charge of the awards, but I got it. It could have just been a scam and someone took money off me, but I did pay the money and I did get the award, I’m guilty of that.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Kapoor insists he has not suffered any malice from within the industry as a result of his admissions.
“There’s been no backlash,” he says. “I’m talking 44 years back – faces have changed, people have changed. This is just the honest confessions of an actor and I hope people appreciate my honesty and my candidness in admitting the mistakes I made earlier in my life.”
After 45 years in the industry, and coming from a family that has long been associated with the movies, it’s no surprise that Kapoor has plenty of stories to tell. But why did he feel that now was the right time for an autobiography?
“Two reasons,” the actor says. “Firstly, there are a lot of misconceptions about me as an actor and a lot of things audiences don’t know about me so it made sense.
“Also, no Kapoor has ever written an autobiography.
“There have been a lot of books written about my family [which includes his father, director Raj Kapoor and his actor siblings Randhir and Rajiv], but never by them so it seemed time to change that.”
Kapoor is clearly excited about his new show, in which he will literally perform his own autobiography on stage.
“Many actors could try to do the same thing, but I have the advantage of having been in the limelight from the age of two,” he says.
“I belong to a film family – my grandfather, my father, my aunties, my uncles, and now my nieces and son, they’re all actors and there are so many things to tell stories about, so many encounters on my journey.”
Despite such strong ties with the industry, Kapoor seems keen to play down its role on his growth as a person. “I don’t perceive that I’ve ‘learnt lessons from the industry’,” the actor insists. “Whatever lessons I’ve learnt and mistakes I’ve made are from life.
“Sometimes there are ups, sometimes downs and that’s what’s interesting in the show.”
His memoir and its associated performance also provides Kapoor with the long-forgotten sensation of nerves before opening night.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to be successful,” he says.
“It’s the first time I’m aware of any actor enacting his own autobiography on stage. People do plays, drama, theatre, but I’m performing my own book.
“I show you what I did and project and perform and interpret my own stories, anecdotes, gossip on stage.
“The proof of the pudding will be on the 31st [Friday]. That’s when we’ll find out how good or bad I am.”
• Khullam Khulla with Rishi Kapoor is on at Dubai World Trade Centre on Friday, March 31. Doors open 7.30pm. Tickets from Dh99 at www.platinumlist.net
cnewbould@thenational.ae
