“In Bollywood they say, ‘hero ka role nahi mil raha kya'” – Sanjay Kapoor

In spite of all the accolades coming his way even two weeks after the release of Luck By Chance, Sanjay Kapoor confirms that he wasn’t too sure about stepping into the shoes of a flop actor turned director in the film. More than just the apprehension around the portrayal of the said character, he was also worried whether his transition from a main lead to one of the actors in this ensemble piece would be the right career move. “I was wary about the fact that how would audience and media respond to my comeback in front of the camera. In Bollywood, the moment you step into the shoes of one of the characters than a leading man, people tend to question that ‘Isse hero ka role nahi mil raha kya?’ Even critics, who are supposed to be analyzing a film based on a story rather than the actors in it, are so often seen to be falling in the same trap.” He goes on to add, “Why just me? In fact in a film that may star two huge stars like Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan, they are so often seen to be carried away by a bigger star’s persona that they may talk just about Shah Rukh and not Hrithik. Luckily this didn’t happen with my film.” He had made his debut as an actor way back in 1995. A decade and a half later, does he still feel insecure about acceptance from the audience? “Any actor, whether he has worked for 5, 10, 15 or 20 years will always be insecure”, he confesses, “Moreover, this film comprised of an ensemble cast of people across all generations.

People in India have a tendency to talk about a role after seeing it’s length and it is very rare when you get acknowledged even after having a screen time which lasts for just a few minutes. It feels good when people come to me and say that I surprised people by leaving an impact in spite of a relatively lesser screen time.” Obviously happy with all the attention coming his way, he goes on to share an example about Tom Cruise.”The other day I was watching this film called Tropic Thunder where Tom Cruise played a fat producer. Now even though Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. were the main leads in the film, Tom Cruise was happy to play a part of a half bald man and that too for a mere 20 minutes”, informs Sanjay. This also left an ever lasting note for him. “True, Tom’s presence in the film left me wondering that what really excited him to be a part of such a setup even when he could have spent that time working in any other big film as a central lead? My reasoning is that he wanted to do something different which could keep his creative juices flowing. Now that’s something that is really impressive and inspiring and also keeps me running as an actor.”