The wholesome artiste

Bharat Kapoor is a known face on television as well as the big screen. However, this natural artiste has earned more fame and accolades through his memorable roles in serials than in films. “Since I had given up on being a hero in films, I had no hang ups. From the very beginning I had been doing serials. Once the channels started in a big way, there was no looking back. I have always been a part of big set ups in television,” said this veteran artiste while shooting for Amaanat.

Earlier ladies used to be scared of me. They were even reluctant to interact with me but Saans has gradually changed my image. Now people call me Ajit Sir and whenever a lady passes by, she gives me a pleasant smile. It feels just ...... Wow

Chunauti, Campus, Parampara, Ummeed, Tara; the serials that Bharat Kapoor has been a part of, were always a runaway success. “Luckily today also I have top serials in hand and in each my role is important. Amaanat, Saans, Aashirwad; all three are big grossers for their channels. I am very happy and I have no wish to do small roles in films. The best thing about television is that we never had to go looking for a role,” he says. Instead, the role happened to come his way and he accepted the cream of it.

Kapoor had started his acting career from theatre. Even though he did his diploma in electrical engineering, he did not disassociate himself from theatre. “Those days we used to have competitions at Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan. I was a regular there but then I had not planned to take acting as profession. Fate had planned otherwise.” With contemporaries like Shafi Inamdar, Sagar Sarhadi and Ramesh Talwar around him, he was destined for acting.

In 1968-69 he acted in a play Tanhai that was written by Sagar Sarhadi and directed by Ramesh Talwar. It was a story of an old actress and her young son. 30 odd shows of that play were staged. Film people like Chetan Anand and Rajendra Bhatia happened to see the play and were duly impressed. “This play fetched me around eight roles. In two films Gupt Gyan and Kshitij I played hero. Kshitij could not be released and Gupt Gyan established me more as a professor than a romantic hero. I received so many letters from men asking me to solve their very personal problems,” sighed Kapoor. This shifted his focus towards negative roles and he did Inkaar. Then once Noorie was released he was accepted as a character artiste.

“This is when I stopped enjoying films. The basic problem was that I got caught in B&C grade set-ups. Very few ‘A’ grade set-ups were happening. Then I decided that instead of substandard films I’d rather do good serials. At least now when I sit at home in the evening, I don’t have to nurse any regrets. I don’t have any hang ups in discussing my roles with other people,” mused he while sipping his tea.

Amongst the three running serials, Kapoor finds his character in Saans most inspiring and good. This is one serial where his character had started with grey shades. As usual women audience expected the worst from his character and waited for some nasty move. “Earlier ladies used to be scared of me. They were even reluctant to interact with me but Saans has gradually changed my image. Now people call me Ajit Sir and whenever a lady passes by, she gives me a pleasant smile. It feels just ...... Wow,” he laughed. Although in Amaanat also his image is positive, he would rather give more credit to Saans because it is a very natural role and there are no histrionics to be done.

His another serial scheduled for telecast soon is Hukumat. It is produced and directed by Rakesh Sarang. It is the story of an underworld don where Kapoor plays the right hand man of the Don. “My role is similar to the role of Feroze Khan in Dayavan,” he said. He is also playing the father of Juliet in a Punjabi soap on Zee Alfa. “It is a slightly grey character.” Besides TV, Kapoor is still involved with theatre. He is playing Pooja Bhatt’s father in the play Khoobsoorat. Directed by Ramesh Talwar, the play has been staged abroad and in Delhi but now they are planning to do shows in Mumbai also. After serials and theatre if Kapoor still has some time on hand, he either watches TV or prefers to stimulate his grey cells by playing Bridge. “I had won competitions in Bridge. In between I had stopped playing because my group had broken but now I have started again,” he disclosed with a grin.

Neelam Gupta