Seventeen years ago a young man stood waist deep in the backwaters of Alappuzha, clutching a houseboat with both hands for hours on end. He was then assisting the German director of an ad film and his assignment was to keep the houseboat steady while the shooting was on. The man was Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor and he has since visited Kerala on numerous occasions and admits to a deep connection with the state. Perhaps that bond has had Kunal all set to blaze a trail in the South Indian film industry through Malayali director Jayaraj’s trilingual film Veeram. The film is a cinematic interpretation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and also takes inspiration from the story of Chandu Chekavar, an infamous warrior of the north Malabar region. Veeram has a supremely fit Kunal showing off his muscular physique and adept Kalaripayattu moves. Though he looks absolutely at ease with the role, a talk with him reveals the intense hard work and effort (sometimes shooting 24 hours non-stop) behind it.
Settling down for a chat, Kunal mentions that primarily it was the opportunity of working with Jayaraj, whose movies he had watched earlier, that drew him to Veeram. He says, “Another reason was the chance to do a role I have never attempted. Ever since I debuted as an actor, most of my roles have been pretty much similar in that I have been this good guy or this sensitive, poetic soul, but here was a chance to do something completely different. In Veeram, I play the anti-hero and physically it allowed me to not only change and transform, but also learn something fascinating — Kalaripayattu. Thirdly the script is riveting — Jayaraj sir has taken a story that happened in England and something that happened in Kerala and managed to merge both.” Learning the Kalaripayattu moves was not easy though Kunal knew the basics of the martial art. He mentions, “There was also weapons-training especially the urumi which takes a lot of time to master, but before that, you are thoroughly cut and bruised while learning the intricacies. Mentally and emotionally too it was not easy because you are playing a character who is an honourable soldier and who turns a ruthless tyrant. There is a huge graph the character goes through and for that I had to tap into places I have not tapped into before,” he adds.
Stills from VeeramThe shooting would no doubt have presented some memorable moments and Kunal recalls, “We were shooting at the Ajanta Ellora caves during the peak tourist season. I had lots of makeup because the warriors dab dark colours. So here I was along with my co-actors, with dark makeup, long hair in a bun, made even longer with extensions clad in traditional costumes with swords in our hands, either walking around or travelling in scooters to get to the location sites. That had the crowds gaping open mouthed.” Kunal had to gain 12 kilos of muscle mass and maintaining that was not easy with the hectic shooting schedule of 17-18 hours. He explains how he managed, “I used to work out 20 minutes before the shoot, 20 minutes before lunch and 20 after the final break which was the most difficult.” Enacting the scenes in three different languages (Malayalam, English and Hindi) was also a task along with learning Malayalam which Kunal adds is a difficult language to master. Kunal is an admirer of Mammoooty and Mohanlal and says the content of films in Mollywood is superior.
Kunal loves theatre and believes the soul of both theatre and films are the same, but it is only the projection that is different. Besides being an actor, Kunal has a lot of other talents too. He is a trained pilot who has flown solo, a rally car driver and a sky diver. He laughs and says, “I like to constantly challenge myself. What is common to all these passions is the need for speed and the need for an adrenaline rush. In life I am a very calm person, so the release comes from doing all these. I want to look back at my life and think that it was not only my work, but so many other things I experimented with.” He also reveals that he was petrified of heights and that he chose to overcome that by doing the extreme act of skydiving.
Kunal is also the co-founder of one of India’s largest crowd-funding platforms Ketto which raises money for social and individual causes. “Five years back I realised that NGOs faced a lot of challenges when it comes to fund raising. There were people ready to give funds but they were not sure who to give it to and how. So there was a need to bring together these two factions together and the most obvious solution was technology. Since I am tech-minded, I thought of using that to bridge the two and we have now raised Rs 40 crore rupees for individual and social causes.” The man of myriad talents ends by saying, “I hope to do more work in Malayalam.”
