'I like the silliness and romance in life'
Aneesha Baig
So here's the thing. I hate Sonam Kapoor. Or, to be strictly accurate, I should hate Sonam Kapoor. She's 23 and dazzling. She's dropped 30 kg and doesn't even have the courtesy to look like she knows what a calorie is. She's got a career that's on a fast train to everywhere. And, oh yes, she has a smile that an infatuated friend of mine swears is better than Julia Roberts' served with a side of ice cream. All very good reasons for me to hate Sonam Kapoor.
But it's hard to hold on to the resentment as I sit down to chat with her-we're meeting at her Juhu home on a muggy Mumbai afternoon, she's rushed ("two meetings after this") but all set for a feet-up session on her cushy couch. Did I mention she's charming, has a point of view and reads-books, mind you, not Danielle Steele. In fact, on the day we catch up she's staggering under the weight of three bags crammed with purchases from the Landmark book store. Her shopping is impressive, its contents not exactly out of the Bollywood bazaar: there's Ibsen, Chekhov, Kerouac, Kundera, even Sartre. Oy.Isn't she just 23?
"I'm one of those girls who'll read an Oscar Wilde and a Woody Allen biography and, sneakily, a Judith McNaught in between and finish the book and go back to Oscar Wilde," she confesses with a laugh. She says this as she coos over a new hardcover copy of Life of Pi that she just found. She's read the book, she has the book-"but isn't this cover gorgeous?"
"I like the silliness in life, I like the romance in life," she sighs. "I want to stop and smell the roses as so many forget to do. I want to believe in all that, but at the same time, I have this practical side which means that I need to make myself think beyond all this." And, perhaps, this has allowed her to be the kind of actress who hasn't taken a penny from her parents since she was 18; who assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Black; who had one of the most hyped debuts imaginable in his Saawariya with "one of her best friends" Ranbir Kapoor; who danced-beautifully-with a pigeon on top of her head in Delhi 6, and who has firmly established in just two films that she has a style that's all her own. In clothes, in books and, as I discovered, in life.
I love acting, it's my passion. I want to do everything but I also don't want to give up my life while doing it. I want to take two months off and travel. Or take a month and veg out on my couch and chill with my friends. I want to meet someone. I want to read books. I cannot just make movies my life. I'm doing this because besides films I have a life." That's why she took her time between her two releases. Still, two month holidays could soon become a fond and faraway wish. Sonam now has a plate that truly spilleth over.
She will be starring opposite Imran Khan ("one actor besides Ranbir I can sort of have a conversation with") in a Dharma Production film to be directed by first timer Puneet Malhotra, she has two films with "fabulous, art house" filmmakers; also her first production with her sister Rhea and father Anil Kapoor. This is the one she's most excited about right now. Sonam will be tapping Jane Austen's immortal heroine Emma in a desi version called Aisha, that's set-perfectly-against the backdrop of Delhi's high society. She can't wait. She's even got the accent down pat- the sing song superficiality readily trips off her tongue.
It's a role she's clearly equipped to play; she's something of a matchmaker herself. "Yes, I realise it's trite since I am playing Emma but I do have this tendency to put people together." Has she been more successful in introducing well-matched friends than her screen character? "Trial and error," she laughs, "though I have successfully made two matches. Lots of unsuccessful efforts though." While she's always trying to set up her best friend and her sister ("though no-one's ever good enough") she, in turn, has been at the receiving end of assorted matchmaking efforts "parents, grandparents, aunts, friends, fans" and most of all the media.
In her year-long career Sonam has been linked to a slew of young stars, her Saawariya leading man Ranbir Kapoor being the first. "Thank God he started seeing Deepika, otherwise the rumours would never have stopped" (Chew on that, tabloids). There have been murmurs about friends, about other colleagues and though often embarrassed she's able, for the most part, to remain sanguine. "For me, all this rubbish that's happening in the papers ... I find it funny. I can just go into my own world, do my own thing and meet my 15 friends, who read beautifully, who want to travel, who go backpacking in the mountains.
"Yet, do things get sticky sometimes with a protective papa who knows the workings of big, bad Bollywood? On the contrary: "My parents have always allowed me to do everything, so there's no novelty. I became responsible at a very young age. They told me now you're on your own. My dad had nothing to do with me doing films. I do go to him for advice, but he usually doesn't have a say. He's a safety net for me. I have the luxury of making these choices because I know I have somebody to fall back on. I have my dad, that doesn't mean I'm using him."So clear is she about keeping her professional distance that when Anil Kapoor was doing the red carpet rounds for Slumdog Millionaire she preferred not to cash in by trailing her father during the celebrations. "I just felt it was his moment," she adds. "And the thing is, I am very sensitive about using him in any way. I don't know if you have noticed but I have never used him to prop myself up. I don't want to be only known as Anil Kapoor's daughter."No fear of that. Her individuality doesn't just extend to film projects but to fashion as well.
There's something of the throwback in Sonam: her style is whimsical, original and often seems inspired by the glamour of Old Hollywood. Who else would show up for media rounds in a pretty pastel dress with Veronica Lake waves in her hair-and pull it off perfectly. Now she's back from the Harper's Bazaar cover shoot at the "beautiful and opulent" Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi and loved every minute: "I really enjoyed the clothes and the jewellery. Cartier is such an enduring brand and I'm so excited with everything I got to wear ... loved the styling." For a self-professed fashionaholic it was paradise on a plate.
She doesn't have a man in her life because her current love affair is with clothes-designer, street or vintage, she loves them all. And her cover look is, in fact, just her. "It's the closest I've come to reflecting what my style is-mix and match, vintage, old world with modern, with bling, with colours-this is what my style is. Exactly this."
As she gears up to take on the world, one yellow-ballet-slipper-shod-step at a time, there's one question I should have asked: As the whirlwind gathers, does she worry that someday she may forget to stop and smell the roses? I think I know the answer. As Alicia Silverstone said in another Emma-inspired turn: As if.
Courtesy: Harper's Bazaar
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