“Yash Raj studio is a boon to every actor” - Kunal Kapoor

Made his debut in Bollywood as an assistant director for Rakeysh Mehra's Aks. Later he entered Bollywood with a new avatar (as an actor) starring opposite Tabu in Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2004). He came into prominence with his following film Rang De Basanti (2006). The film was critically and commercially successful, and it was India's official entry to the Oscars and the Bafta's. Received a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award nomination. He has done a number of plays and has worked with Motley, a theatre group by Naseeruddin Shah. He has also done a couple of ads. A film-buff, Kunal loves everything that goes into the making of a film- editing, cinematography, production design and all the other technicalities. He has recently decided to try out scriptwriting. His recent release was Hatrick.

The brand ambassador of Thums Up (India) now eagerly waits for the junta’s verdict this Friday for his film ‘Laaga Chunari Mein Daag’ by Yash Raj Films, the actor is all praise for the all and all bong talents involved with the film which includes his co-stars and the director, and after working with Yash Raj Films feels proud and pampered.  

Here Kunal shares his experiences during ‘Laaga Chunari Mein Daag’.

Music of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
The music is very simple it’s very honest and different from what you get to hear nowadays because the instrumentation is very simple there is more emphasis on the words, the words are written keeping the characters in mind they are not random words they are written keeping the story in mind so I think its very different from any sort of music that you hear in the market now days.

Your favourite track
My favourite track actually should be my track which is ‘ek teekhi teekhi si ladki’ but it’s not. My favourite track is which the sisters have “Hum to aise Hai Bhaiya”. I love the way its shot and I love the song itself like I said it depicts the characters really well and its very simple, honest and it touches the heart its not gimmicky song, it’s a song that’s telling you a story and that’s what makes it interesting and after that its my song  of course.

Your character in the film
The character I play is of Vivaan he’s a creative director in an Advertising agency. He’s a lazy, laid back sort of a guy, so somewhere this whole laid back, lazy attitude makes him attractive because he know’s he doesn’t have to try to hard and also he’s a bit of a space cadet, he’s always on his own trip so he’s pretty much like me infact.  I think the first time when  dada saw me I asked him what are the kinds of clothes I am suppose to wear, so he said the character of Vivaan is very lazy, laid back so just be yourself ,behave like yourself  and wear your own  personal clothes and you will be perfect so that’s how Vivaan is I think what gets him about Konkana’s character is that he’s use to getting a lot of attention but he is not use to somebody coming in and being super confident and having her own mind and telling him exactly what to do and that’s what attracts him to Konkana’s character.

Here’s this girl from Banaras who has come into the agency and she is new to the agency and she walks into his office and she tells him that you are wrong and that’s what gets him because he is so use to getting attention and so use to being right that he’s never had somebody come across to him and tell him that listen you are wrong. Also I found that relationship to be very interesting because it’s always like a one up sort of a relationship even when they are in love they are always playful and trying to get the better of each other.

What made you decide to do this film & how did it all happen
I think for me the deciding factor obviously was the role since it was very interesting, It was something that I had never done before. I have done “Meenakshi” and “Rang De Basanti” and both of them have been rather serious sort of characters they both had characters which had a certain weight to them and they had certain seriousness to them. Vivaan is completely different there is nothing really dramatic or serious about him, he’s a light hearted chap and secondly I have always wanted to work with Pradeep Sarkar after I had watched Parineeta. There were a couple of people who I had in mind whom I wanted to work with and Dada was one of them so when I got a call from him I was really excited but I don’t think dada was convinced like I said he had seen “Meenakshi” and “Rang De Basanti” and he was like I don’t think this guy can be light hearted  and have fun he’s good for serious roles so he did a screen test and he liked it   which is why I am here today and it happened rather fast ,I got a call did the screen test and the next day I was on for the film

Working with Pradeep Sarkar
Well different days different strokes, I will need an entire book to tell you how it is to work with Pradeep Sarkar because he’s got many moods and  different facets to his personality so its very difficult to describe it in couple of words. Firstly he is extremely passionate about what he does; he is a taskmaster he is not going to let you go till he knows he’s got the shot that he wants. There was one scene in which I am suppose to eat a hamburger and there is some mayonnaise that needs to fall on my jacket and I don’t think I have eaten so many burgers in my life put together because I hade like some 16 Burgers and 3 bottles of mayonnaise. If somebody thinks doing an action film is risky they should actually try doing a scene which involves Pradeep Sarkar and a Ham burger because that is really risky for your health what is really nice about working with Dada is that you know that he’s not going to let you go until and unless he has got the perfect shot. As an actor you feel very assured, you come to the set and you know that you are taken care off. There are some directors that let a lot of things pass which you know Dada will not let anything pass that gives you a lot of confidence as an actor because you know that you are in the right hands and you have a director that cares about every character.

The second thing about him is that he’s got this incredible eye for detail. I don’t think its humanly possible the sort of eye for detailing he has because he’s sits on this little monitor and he’s got his head shoved into the monitor and since its this monitor which is not of great quality it’s a small little thing but he can notice one leaf falling which is 50 feet way and I fail to understand how that is possible.  With a naked eye its not possible to see half the things he does and I think the nicest thing about working with Dada as a director is that he approaches every scene rather the entire movie where he does not try to over awe you with the technicalities of cinema. He just tries to tell you a simple story which has a soul and he goes about it in a very honest and simple sort of way almost an innocent childish way. I don’t think there are to many directors especially in today’s day who have the ability to constantly tell a story with simplicity. I think Dada is one of the few people who can do that and I think that’s what makes him such a good director. The ability to be simple and honest and be child like innocent about the story that he is telling you that I think is what makes Laaga Chunari Mein Daag-Journey of a woman special.

Any one memorable incident during the shoot of the film that comes to mind
Here was this song which we were shooting which had me and Konkana in it and Dada was in a panicky mood. The scene had me and Konkana in the boat and dada in the other boat in front of us with his camera set up there and the guy who was riding our boat was Italian, he couldn’t speak in English and Dada kept trying to speak to him in English,Hindi,Bengali everything that he could get out of himself obviously it didn’t had any effect. In the meanwhile there was a translator in between so Dada was screaming at him in Hindi and Bengali and on the other hand the translator was trying to communicate the same to the boat rider and he was panicking as well. So there were moments when Dada was saying come on and the boat rider is trying to get the boat in control because the boat in front was leaving these waves, so our boat was kind of unsteady and he went and banged the boat in front.

It was a lot of chaos and madness happening at the same time with the translator trying to translate to the Italian boat rider and Dada trying to explain things with me and Konkana nearly falling out of the boat.

Experience of shooting with an entire Bengali cast & crew
It made me feel like a Punjabi shooting a film in Calcutta. It was like shooting for a Bengali film in Calcutta because you walk in to the set the actress, director, set designer all are Bengali and they all talk in Bengali so after a point you start feeling that they are making fun of you because everybody is on their own trip its almost like being in an alien land. Its like a Maharashtrian doing a Telugu film or like a Punjabi doing a Bengali film but again the very good part of working in a Bengali set up is that you get damn good food so I think that was the compensation for having everybody being Bengali on the set so I am not complaining I am ready for yet another Bengali film.

Working with Yash Raj Films
Yash Raj spoils you completely and I don’t think I will be comfortable working with anybody else after this and I keep hoping that they offer me films so that I am always in their comfortable sort of environment. Its been a great and fantastic experience even though I have been a new comer, this is like my fourth film and they have never treated me like a new comer there has never been any different sort of treatment meted out to different people because somebody is a big star and somebody has just started off. They have been very equal in the sort of treatment that you get and secondly they are always there to take care of every need of yours, they are extremely well organized. Yash Raj studio is a boon to every actor in the country because I have shot at other studios like filmalay and filmistan and all those places and suddenly when you come to YashRaj you feel like it’s a different world. They spoil you and pamper you so much that it becomes a problem so early in your career that it gets very difficult to work with anybody else and I am just hoping that they either sign me for more movies or the other people start pampering us in the same way.

Your favourite outfit in the film
Well lots of those outfits I wear off screen because some of the clothes that I have worn in the film are a part of my own wardrobe. Vivaan’s character is one which doesn’t care about what he wears, how he wears it and whether it’s co-ordinated or not and more often it’s messy and laid back so most of the clothes that Vivaan wears is me.

Shooting experience in Switzerland
The thing with Switzerland is that you grow up co-relating Yash Raj and Switzerland. It all becomes a legend in your head because you look at Switzerland and you think of Yash Raj and you think of all those fabulous movies which have been shot there. You think of all those big actors who have been a part of  the dancing on the mountains and singing on the streets of Switzerland. I think I am very fortunate that in my lifetime I have got to be a part of the legend and if nothing else I can look back and say I was part of a Yash Raj film which was shot in Switzerland and I was there in it.

Working with your co-stars

Rani Mukherjee: I am going to be very grateful to Rani, firstly I will remember this movie for ever because it’s the first time that I have done a Bollywood Hindi movie song which involves dancing and singing and I was petrified. I not only have two left feet but have four left feet. I not only crushed my co-stars toes but I crushed my own toes while dancing. I am really bad at it. But Rani is exceptional! I think after Madhuri Dixit if there is anybody that can really dance and hold your attention is Rani and she was kind enough to help me while this song was going on and I think I have managed fairly well with her help. It was really nice of her she helped me thru a lot of steps.

Konkona Sen Sharma: Working with Konkana has two sides to it one is that its great fun to work with her because she is very easy to work with. I love working with her and she is a lot of fun to have around she doesn’t come with any excess baggage. She’s just there to do her job and there is nothing more to that and I have an absolutely superb equation with her.

The dangerous part about working with Konkana is that you come to set and you get your scene and you have obviously rehearsed your scene at home and come and then I come to the set and rehearse it like some 15/20 times. I sit with the director and discuss what I am suppose to do and then Konkana walks into the set and says “what are we doing today”. She will take a look at the scene and read it a couple of times and then she will go , read a book, listen to music and in the meanwhile I am rehearsing, talking to the director how I am suppose to approach the scene, what I am suppose to do. she walks into the set casually and she does the scene and she gets it right in the first take!! she gives you the most magical shot and she walks back and goes and listens to her music!!. you are left there wondering what did I do wrong in life not to deserve that sort of genetic quality where you just saunter on to the set and you read the scene once and you just get it perfect . It can get very demoralizing as a co-actor to work with her but I have sort of got use to her. The other good thing about Konkana is that she gets really good food from home. It’s always a pleasure working with her. 

Jaya Bachchan : For me Jayaji is very special because I have been a very big fan of her’s for a really long and to share screen space with her is obviously very special. The nicest thing about working with Jayaji is that she get really exceptional food and she gets food enough for 10 people and she feeds us really well. Those days of shooting with Jayaji was fantastic because you really look forward to your lunch as soon as you hear lunch everybody is in her room and she would have this huge spread which was well laid and its fantastic working with her.

Abhishek :

Abhishek I have known for really really long but this is the first time I have worked with him He is completely insane, He is out of control, mad and lots of fun always upto mischief and pranks and the thing that he does exceptionally well which I am really grateful to him for is that I was really nervous doing this song but Abhishek makes the environment on the sets so light hearted and so much fun to be around that after a point I actually start enjoying doing the song and it was after the song was over I realized it was done only because he was around. He just comes to the set and has so much fun he doesn’t look at work as a stress or pressure and because he is having fun and doing such a good job, its infectious and it eventually takes over the entire unit everyone is having fun so I am glad that the first song that I did was with Abhishek because doing it with him just became lots of fun.