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Zahan Kapoor on Legacy, the Hippie Life and Being Told He is the Next 'Kapoor' After Ranbir: But I'm Not Him
Zahan Kapoor talks about growing up as a Kapoor and why he took time to discover some of his family's classic films.
Zahan Kapoor fell in love with horses before he did with cinema. With acting legend Shashi Kapoor as his paternal grandfather, and iconic filmmaker Ramesh Sippy as his maternal grandfather, Zahan was surrounded by Indian cinema giants, and yet, he claims to not have been raised in a filmy environment.
"My biggest passion from the age of 10 was horse riding. By the age of 13, I started playing polo and got good at it,” Zahan tells The Hollywood Reporter India while sipping black coffee at Prithvi Theatre, which was built by Shashi and his wife Jennifer Kendal in memory of his father, legendary actor Prithviraj Kapoor.
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"When I was 15, there was an article with the headline, ‘This Kapoor kid won’t run around trees.’ Because when they asked me if I was interested in acting, I dismissed the thought instantly. ‘I am not going to do all of this,’ I had declared,” Zahan says with a laugh, moments after a girl at the adjacent table recognises him from his breakout Netflix series Black Warrant, released in January.
"Now, lo and behold. This is where we are. Truth be told, I would happily run around trees!” he says, as he reflects on his career, legacy, family and future.
Edited excerpts from the conversation:
THR: What was it like growing up as a Kapoor? Did you know the weight your surname carried?
Zahan Kapoor: Thankfully, I wasn’t aware. It was a later understanding of what it meant to the larger world because, on an immediate level, it was just my family — my grandfather, parents and friends. My grandfather retired pretty much when I was born, so he wasn’t an active member of the film industry. That meant I was not consumed by the regular frenzy of the industry. Dad (Kunal Kapoor), being an ad-film maker, was involved in the craft of filmmaking while my mother (Sheena Sippy), being a photographer, was involved in the craft of image-making. My immediate family is genuinely concerned with art, culture and society and is not very retrospective at the dinner table, not self-bloviating about [our] "legacy".
The discussions revolved around the contemporary works of others and theatre. The anchor was more Prithvi than the film industry. My understanding grew gradually with how the outside world was reacting. Like, when someone tells me I remind them of my grandfather. This is a way people are reminded of an emotion they felt, that was catalysed and stimulated by my grandfather and family.
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THR: Not having dinner table conversations about films would have significantly shaped you and your art....
ZK: Completely, and I am grateful for it. Can you imagine how myopic my life would have been? My life was about being a hippie on a beach. For me, my village is Goa. We had a tiny, super-basic house in Baga before it got commercial. As kids, we played in low-tide pools, set up traps for pigs, and played cricket on the sand. I also spent some time in Lakshadweep as a kid, so I was exposed to the seas and horses from a young age. There was a sense of adventure and discovery, which didn’t revolve around films but life.
It was extremely creative and cultural. I have memories of attending Zakir Hussain’s concerts five times a year and then having a beach life as a hippy with nothing else but a towel and a pair of shorts, experiencing cultures, road trips, train rides, and going on jungle safaris. Those were the exposures I was given.
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THR: What are your memories of Prithvi Theatre?
ZK: Some of my strongest earliest memories of Prithvi are of watching Zakir Hussain play at the memorial concert every year. That has been such a subliminally foundational memory of me being able to subconsciously absorb that level of mastery of live performance, coupled with the grace and compassion that he embodied. When he passed away, I realised how deep of an influential anchor point he was in my understanding of performance and music.
THR: Your father quit acting even before you were born. What are the stories you heard about his career, and is there anything you learned from that?
ZK: I had no active acting influences in my house. I had influences of makers and curators, but not of actors. My father wanted to act on stage, he was more influenced by his maternal grandfather, Geoffrey Kendal. Stagecraft excited him so he went to a drama school in London. Even though he loved it, he found the school a frustrating experience. During that time, he started driving minicabs in London to make ends meet and got a film offer. It was more of a monetary decision, a prospect of employment.
He did his first film Ahista Ahista (1981) and featured in films like Vijeta (1982) and Utsav (1984). At that time, he was a contemporary to Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt and also faced the issue of not being given a giant, magnum “launch”, which at the time was more of a deterrent in terms of the industry.
He didn’t enjoy the kind of filmmaking that was happening in the mid to late ’80s. He perhaps was also not comfortable fulfilling the expectation of what a hero was at that time. He also tried to turn into a producer and realised he was more astute and had a vision to direct. When he got opportunities in advertising, they were fun, he made things that excited him.
THR: Can you describe Shashi Kapoor through the lens of a grandson?
ZK: He was mostly jolly but also a strict grandfather at home. He was my dadaji. He was an extremely strong presence in the household, but my relationship was about having our meals and watching TV together. He would watch his sitcoms, cricket, and contemporary movies, he loved Chinese food. He was the patriarchal head of the family.
THR: Did you watch a lot of his films growing up?
ZK: No, it was much later, when he got his Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2014. By then, I had already become interested in cinema and had started assisting in advertising. I wanted to be a filmmaker before I was interested in acting. I come from a generation where Hrithik Roshan was my hero, watching and going crazy over Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) is in fact my core memory. I was so obsessed with the film I told my mother this was the greatest film ever. She said, “This film is not even a match to the flame of Sholay (1975).” That’s when she sat me down and made me watch the film.
THR: You had not seen your maternal grandfather’s classics?
ZK: No! My mother is responsible much more than my father’s side of the family for showing me the films of the family! So then I watched Sholay, Shaan (1980), Seeta Aur Geeta (1972). She did her due diligence.
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THR: At what point did you discover the films of the Kapoor family then?
ZK: It is an ongoing process, I haven’t seen all of them. I discovered them from the age of 17 or 18 onwards. Before that I had not seen Awara (1951), Sangam (1964), Deewaar (1975). Even Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) was a film I saw much later. There wasn’t an obsessively filmy environment, so it was a wilful discovery. When I got my first job in production, that’s when I started digging into the craft of filmmaking.
THR: And what about films of your cousins: Kareena, Karisma?
ZK: Much later. I knew them through family events more than through their work. I remember going to Karisma’s wedding and getting star-struck by seeing other people who I had vaguely known. It was a chaos of glamour, which was beyond the “normal” life that I knew. In a notional sense, I knew I also belonged — but from a distance. It’s paradoxically beautiful and a double-edged sword. I have been allowed to grow up uniquely, to see broader than the bubble but there are also expectations and familiarity.
THR: Why is it a double-edged sword?
ZK: Because there are expectations, there is a degree of protection and concern. Starting to act was such an arduous process of navigating advice, including old-school advice like “You shouldn’t be seen and expose yourself.” Post Ranbir’s launch, which changed things, everyone was like, “He is the next Kapoor.” But I am not Ranbir. I am different, I grew up differently. He is Rishi Kapoor’s son, so there is an immediacy. He is a working member of the film industry. I am on the fence, not in the epicentre. The advice is coming from the epicentre, but I am not being treated like that also.
Which is why it is a double-edged sword. Certain doors open, but not all. I won’t get bullied, as opposed to someone who is an outsider, but the expectation is there. I am extremely nervous about not taking it for granted. I don’t want to be somebody else’s experiment. As a producer you might say this works on paper, let’s take a chance with this at the box office. But I need to feel confident today.
THR: Were you not confident before?
ZK: Since childhood, it was drilled into me that I should stand on my own feet, [and not] expect anything. For me, it has been a process of building confidence. I decided I wanted to act in 2012 or 2013 and my film was released in 2023. It was a 10-year PhD, in the world of movies.
THR: But that’s because you wanted to take this path, to hone yourself for a decade before you could feel confident?
ZK: Some people could start at the age of 18 and then realise after 10 years what they truly want to do. It takes anyone that much time. I spent 10 years in the shadows and then I began. I am happy.
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THR: How do you look at the reception Black Warrant has received?
ZK: It genuinely has been overwhelming, and I didn’t see it coming. But the interesting thing is I made my theatre debut in 2019 with a play titled Pitaji Please, and then my film debut with Faraaz. After that, I shot for a short film and then an anthology series. Black Warrant is actually my fifth acting gig and third on-camera project, even though on-screen it is credited as my second because it came out after Faraaz. My first film was a four-year process from signing to release, but Black Warrant is being viewed as my debut! It is strangely beautiful because my sense of dedication to acting is 12 to 13 years old, a professional journey that is five projects old, but Black Warrant has been the first strong impression for the larger audience. I am happy with it.
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