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SANGEET KA SAFAR HAE GOOD NEWS TO ALL.

Another Kapoor in the ring

Shammi Kapoor's son Aditya has quit management, and is set to direct his first Hindi film. (Naturally, we're going to burden him with a lot of expectations)


On Tuesday, May 08-07

After spending 20 years in the field of management, Shammi Kapoor's son Mickey (Aditya) Kapoor is directing his first Hindi film. "I'm casting for the film right now. Actually, this is my fourth film. I've made three English-language films. Now, I'm finally making a Hindi Bollywood film. The first I directed was Schamal, then Sambar Salsa and finally Don't Stop Dreaming (featuring Rishi Kapoor, Suneil Shetty). Times Music will shortly release the music of Don't Stop Dreaming. It has been released in England," says the 50-year old son of one of Bollywood's enduring superstars.

Shammi Kapoor himself directed two films, Manoranjan and Bundalbaaz, both unsuccessful, in the 1970s. "He did it for a lark. He didn't need to," says the doting son.

What took Mickey (real name Aditya Raj Kapoor) so long to find his Bollywood bearings? "I was into management for 20 years. Before that, I served as an assistant to Raj Kapoor. At the age of 19, I chose to pursue business rather than movies. Three years ago, I decided enough was enough. I took off my shirt and tie and bought myself a good pair of jeans and decided to make films. I wrote three scripts and all of them were accepted. Luckily for me, my family was with me both the times, when I chose to leave films and when I now returned."

Why did Mickey decide to quit the RK empire at 19? "I needed to know more about the world at large, wanted to know more about business. Also, at that time, a lot of people in my family were into films - Raj Saab, my dad, Shashi Randhir, Rishi… they were all up and running. I didn't want to be the sixth RK member on the screen. It was too much competition from home and too big a burden. So, I opted out of acting. But now not too many Kapoors are active. And besides, I've moved towards direction rather than acting. That's about creating opinions through visuals. I'm comfortable with that."

Ask him what kind of a Hindi film he'll make, and Mickey says, "It's not a big film. It's an intimate character study. And by intimate, I don't mean it will have sex. It'll be an intense, single-hero film."

Mickey has also set up a TV channel in Dubai. "That was my turn-around. I'm really blessed to belong to one of the most illustrious families. And I want to make the best of it."

Having Shammi Kapoor for a father has been a blessing for Mickey. "It's always up to the individual how he treats his lineage and opportunities he gets. I'm in no hurry. I'll spend the next five years doing Hindi films. Then I'll do some more English films


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