As he reunites with Madhuri for The Fame Game, Sanjay Kapoor on taking failure in his stride and bouncing back in the industry with OTT offerings
Sanjay Kapoor
How does it feel to reunite with a co-star after 29 years? To Sanjay Kapoor, who had shot with Madhuri Dixit-Nene in 1995 for Raja, it almost feels like a “flash forward”. “I started working with Madhuri after shooting for 15 days for Prem [1995], and she had made me feel comfortable. Even today, it felt almost the same. She is the same Madhuri—grounded, and one who makes everyone on the set comfortable. I have known her for 29 years. It feels as if [time has] flashed forward, and we are back on set,” grins Kapoor, who has teamed up with Dixit for The Fame Game.
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The Netflix series sees Dixit as superstar Anamika Anand, with Kapoor playing her husband. Anamika’s seemingly perfect life comes crumbling down when she vanishes one fine day, leading the police to examine the hard truths behind the façade of glamour.
Sanjay Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit-Nene in The Fame Game
Living your life in the public eye is not easy, Kapoor knows it all too well. The actor, who debuted in 1995, had a tough run in the industry with most of his films biting the dust. How did he handle failure? “Fortunately, I was surrounded by positive people. So, I never felt that with failure, people changed around me. When your work doesn’t do well, you feel dejected because you have given it your best shot. But one has to move on. It was not that I was not getting work; I was not getting exciting work. Being a producer is in our blood, so I got into production. I had to feed my family, send my kids to school, and earn money. I couldn’t sit back and say that unless I don’t get good work, I won’t work.”
The actor powered through the hard times, and bounced back with the advent of OTT. Having played key roles in Lust Stories (2018) and The Gone Game (2020), Kapoor is satisfied to have found his place in front of the camera again. “Everything changed after I did Lust Stories. When the opportunity came again with OTT, I bounced back. People say sometimes you can be talented, but destiny plays a big part. It happened to me.”