Biography of Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor born on December 24, 1959 to Surinder and Nirmal Suchitra Kapoor, is a prominent National Film Award-winning Indian actor and producer who appears in Bollywood films. His dad used to be Shammi Kapoor’s Secretary.

A loner, without many friends, he studied in the nearby O.L.P.S. (Our Lady of Perpetual Succor) School, and was an ardent fan of Bollywood flicks that were telecast during the Ganesh Maha Ustav every year. He was a fan of Raj Kapoor, and it was this that influenced his acting, and people saw him as a mimic of the legendary showman. He landed a role as a child artiste with Shashi Kapoor in the lead, but the movie (Tu Payal Main Geet) was never released.

After school, he went to study in St. Xaviers College. He commuted by bus and train from Chembur to Bombay V.T., and the walked the rest of the way. It was here that he met Mazhar Khan. A distracted Anil was kicked out of College in the second year due to his lack of presence. His attempts to join the Pune Film Institute were in vain, as he failed in the written examination. He then decided to join Roshan Taneja’s Acting school.

Born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Kapoor started off his career with a supporting role in Umesh Mehra’s Hamare Tumhare (1979) and played his first leading role in Woh Saat Din (1983). He won acclaim for his roles in Yash Chopra’s drama Mashaal (1984) and Shekhar Kapur’s sci-fi Mr. India (1987), and won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in the former.

After a series of successful films, Kapoor earned his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in N. Chandra’s Tezaab in 1988, and later for Indra Kumar’s Beta in 1992. Since then, he has starred in several critical and commercial successes, including Biwi No.1 (1999), Taal (1999), Pukar (2000), for which he won his first National Film Award in the Best Actor category, and Anees Bazmee’s super-hit comedy No Entry followed for Kapoor that year. The film became the highest grossing film of the year and Kapoor’s comic-timing was applauded. Kapoor thus has established himself as one of the most successful and popular actors of Hindi cinema. Preceding films from 2001 to 2004 failed to do well but Kapoor won acclaim for his role in the thriller My Wife’s Murder (2005), which he also produced.

Coming from a film-oriented family, Kapoor’s elder brother, Boney Kapoor, is a producer while younger brother Sanjay Kapoor is also a well known Bollywood actor though not as successful.

He is the brother-in-law of the actress Sri Devi with whom he has starred in many films. His sister Reena is married to Sandeep Marwah of the Marwah Films & Video Studios in Noida Film City.

In 1994, he married Sunita Kapoor and had two daughters and a son. Kapoor’s daughter, Sonam Kapoor made her debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya (2007) opposite Rishi Kapoor’s son, Ranbir Kapoor. His other daughter Rhea is studying in New York while his son Harsh is currently in school.

In 2002, Kapoor produced his first film, the comedy Badhaai Ho Badhaai, in which he also starred in, but the film failed to do well. Next followed, the critically acclaimed thriller My Wife’s Murder (2005), which also didn’t do well at the box office. His next produced film, Gandhi, My Father, which focuses on the relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal Gandhi released on August 3, 2007. Despite being acclaimed by critics and audiences, the film failed to do well.