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Rajat Kapoor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Rajit Kapur.

Rajat Kapoor
Rajat Kapoor at the International Film Festival of India 2014
Born
New Delhi, India
Occupations
  • Actor
  • filmmaker
  • playwright
Years active1989–present
Spouse
Meenal Agrawal
​
(m. 1996)​
Children2

Rajat Kapoor is an Indian actor, filmmaker and playwright who works in Hindi cinema.[1]

Early life and early career

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Rajat Kapoor was born in Delhi, India and grew up in Old Delhi.[2] In 1983 he joined the theatre group Chingari in Delhi. In 1985 he moved to Pune to attend the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).[1]

Kapoor started out in Parallel Cinema, making his debut in the 1989 Kumar Shahani film Khayal Gatha. When he had trouble finding acting jobs in the 1990s, Kapoor began writing and directing shorts. He made his full-length directorial debut with Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One (1997), which had Irrfan Khan and Naseeruddin Shah in minor roles.[1]

Mainstream breakthrough and continued career

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In 2001, Kapoor got his big mainstream break-in Dil Chahta Hai, as Preity Zinta's character's uncle. He received international attention in Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding in which he played an abusive uncle. Since then, he has written, directed, and appeared in many films. He played Muhammad Ali Jinnah in a UK television film The Last Days of the Raj in 2007. In 2003, he wrote and directed the independent film Raghu Romeo, which he financed by sending e-mail requests for money to his friends. Although it was not a box office success, the film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. He then directed and starred in Mixed Doubles, a film that deals with swinging in contemporary Mumbai.[1] In 2008 he directed a sleeper hit Mithya. He was also nominated for Best Performance by an Actor for Siddharth: The Prisoner at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In the year 2010, he has also starred in a Bengali movie Iti Mrinalini opposite Konkona Sen directed by Bengali film writer Aparna Sen.

Apart from films, Kapoor hosts the tri-weekly chat show Lounge telecasted by NDTV Good Times.[3] He also worked in television shows, including Rishtey which was aired on Zee TV in the episode "Milan".[4] Tired of pitching his stories to investors, Kapoor reached out to his friend Chet Jainn, founder of the crowdfunding platform goCrowdera.com to raise initial seed fund for his next film called RkRkay.[5][6][7][8] The "RkRkay" crowdfunding campaign went on to raise over ₹35,00,000.[9]

Kapoor is a three time National Award winner, first for his 26-minute non-feature documentary, Tarana, then for his short, Hypnothesis, and after that for Raghu Romeo in Best Feature Film in Hindi section.[10]

Personal life

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Kapoor married Meenal Agarwal, a photographer-production designer in 1996[11] and has two children, a daughter Rabia and a son Vivan.[1] Kapoor is an atheist, and he has said he believes God is a man-made concept.[12]

Allegations of sexual harassment

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In October 2018, Kapoor was accused of sexual harassment by two different women during the Me Too movement. One, a journalist, said that he made inappropriate comments during a telephone interview.[13] Following these accusations, Kapoor apologised on Twitter, saying "I am sorry from the bottom of my heart – and sad that I was the cause of this hurt to another human being."[14] His film Kadakh was dropped from the 20th MAMI Film Festival due to the allegations.[15]

Filmography

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Year Film Functioned As Notes
Director Producer Screenwriter Actor Role
1989 Khayal Gatha Yes Several characters Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics)
Premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival
1994 Tarana Yes National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film

National Film Award for Best Cinematography

1996 Hypnothesis Yes National Film Award for Best Short Fiction Film
1997 Private Detective: Two Plus Two Plus One Yes Yes
2001 Dil Chahta Hai Yes Mahesh
Monsoon Wedding Yes Tej Puri
2003 Raghu Romeo Yes Yes National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi
Mudda: The Issue Yes Harphool Singh
2004 Tum Yes Vinod Gupta
2005 Dhadkanein Yes
Kisna: The Warrior Poet Yes Prince Raghuraj
Chehraa Yes
2006 Mixed Doubles Yes Yes Yes Vinod
Corporate Yes Vinay Sehgal
Yun Hota To Kya Hota Yes US Consulate Officer
Bombay Skies Yes Anand Short film
Anuranan Yes Amit Bannerjee Simultaneously shot in Hindi and Bengali
2007 The Last Days of the Raj Yes Muhammad Ali Jinnah TV film
Bheja Fry Yes Ranjeet Thadani
Apna Asmaan Yes Dr. Sen
Hamlet: The Clown Prince Yes Play
Khoya Khoya Chand Yes Prem Kumar
2008 Mithya Yes Yes
Krazzy 4 Yes Ravi K. Sanyal
Via Darjeeling Yes Ronodeep 'Rono' Sen
Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na Yes Mahesh Pariyar
Hulla Yes Janardhan
Dasvidaniya Yes Rajiv Jhulka
2009 I M 24 Yes Shubendu Roy
Ek Tho Chance Yes
Siddharth: The Prisoner Yes Siddharth Roy
Teree Sang Yes Barrister Mohit Puri
Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi? Yes Yes Yes Rahul Kapoor
2010 Rann Yes Naveen Shankalya
That Girl in Yellow Boots Yes Man Who Steps Out of Elevator Premiered in South Asian International Film Festival 2010
Pappu Can't Dance Saala Yes Palash Premiered in South Asian International Film Festival 2010
...And Once Again Yes Rishi
Iti Mrinalini Yes Siddhartha Sarkar
Phas Gaye Re Obama Yes Om Shastri
2011 Jo Dooba So Paar: It's Love In Bihar! Yes Superintendent of Police
Nothing Like Lear Yes Play
2012 Agent Vinod Yes ISI chief Lt-Gen Iftekhar Ahmed
Fatso! Yes Yes
The Owner Yes
10ml LOVE Yes Ghalib
Midnight's Children Yes Aadam Aziz
2013 Carpet Boy Yes Ehsaan Khan
2014 Ankhon Dekhi Yes Yes Yes Rishi Won – Star Screen Award for Best Story
Won - Filmfare Award for Best Story
Won - Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics)
2015 Drishyam Yes Mahesh Deshmukh
X: Past Is Present Yes K
2016 Kapoor & Sons Yes Harsh Kapoor Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
Mantra Yes Kapil Kapoor
2017 Rat Race - Ek Andhi Daud Yes Akhil Short film
2018 Pari Yes Professor Quasim Aali [16]
Mulk Yes Danish Javed[17]
2020 Kadakh Yes Yes Yes Author Rahul
2022 Gehraiyaan Yes Jitesh
RK/RKay Yes Yes Yes RK / Mahboob
Drishyam 2 Yes Mahesh Deshmukh [18]
2023 Anur Yes IAS Loshit Modliar Assamese film[19]
2023 Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa Yes Chandra

Television

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Year Title Role Language Platform
1994-1998 Junoon Pappu Hindi Doordarshan
1999-2000 Gubbare Sharad Hindi Zee TV
2000-2003 Gharwali Uparwali (one episode only) Advertising Agency Boss Hindi Star Plus
2005 C.I.D (two episodes only) Tanuj Hindi Sony TV
2008 Gateway To Hollywood[20] Judge Hindi Sony TV
2014-2015 Everest Ramesh Rungta Hindi Star Plus
2017-2019 The Good Karma Hospital Amit Nambeesan English ITV
2020 Code M Col. Suryaveer Chauhan Hindi ALTBalaji/Zee5
Shobdo Jobdo Sougata Bengali Hoichoi
Scam 1992 K. Madhavan Hindi SonyLIV
2021 Call My Agent: Bollywood Montie Bahl Hindi Netflix
2022 Tanaav[21] Jagjit Malik Hindi SonyLIV
2023 Jehanabad - Of Love & War Shivanand Singh Hindi SonyLIV
2024 Lootere Captain A.K. Singh Hindi Disney+ Hotstar

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Jagan, Negi (25 February 2006). "Big on the small film". Telegraph portal. The Telegraph (Calcutta). Archived from the original on 27 May 2006. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  2. ^ Pratyush Patra (28 January 2017). "Rajat Kapoor: 25 years back there was nothing called Gurgaon". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Lounge". Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  4. ^ "MILAN". Rishtey Portal. 18 May 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  5. ^ Pani, Priyanka (8 August 2017). "A crowd-fund in need is a friend indeed!". @businessline. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  6. ^ "How crowdfunding has opened up new avenue of financing for filmmakers". Moneycontrol. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  7. ^ www.ETtech.com. "Actor-director Rajat Kapoor partners Crowdera to raise funds for upcoming movies - ETtech". The Economic Times. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Rajat Kapoor plans to make 'RK/R Kay' through crowdfunding". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  9. ^ "RK/R Kay - Crowd-Produced Feature Film by Rajat Kapoor by Mithya Talkies". GoCrowdera. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Gateway- Rajat Kapoor".
  11. ^ Nichola, Pais (19 December 2014). ""Marriage is meant to last" – Rajat Kapoor". FPJ Desk. Free Press Journal. Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  12. ^ Priyankee Saikia (28 January 2014). "10 Indian Celebs Who Are Proclaimed Atheists". mensxp.com. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  13. ^ Entertainment, Quint (8 October 2018). "#MeToo: "Rajat Kapoor Tried to Kiss Me Repeatedly, I Was 20"". TheQuint. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  14. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (8 October 2018). "Actor Rajat Kapoor Apologizes On Twitter Following Harassment Claims As Bollywood Feels The #MeToo Force". Deadline. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  15. ^ "Rajat Kapoor and AIB's films dropped from 20th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival". The Indian Express. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Pari new screamer: Anushka Sharma will scare the living daylights out of you". hindustantimes.com/. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  17. ^ "Rishi Kapoor surprises fans with his new look for Mulq. Then shares 102 Not Out bonanza pic". hindustantimes.com/. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  18. ^ "Ajay Devgn and Shriya Saran begin Drishyam 2 shoot in Goa; Abhishek Pathak to direct". Bollywood Hungama. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  19. ^ "'Anur' review: Navigating the undercurrents of old age". The News Mill. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  20. ^ "Sony Pix announces winner of Gateway". 13 May 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  21. ^ "'Tanaav,' Indian adaptation of 'Fauda' to stream on Sony LIV from November 11". The Hindu. 18 October 2022 – via www.thehindu.com.
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