Never discouraged daughters: Anil

Anil Kapoor is proud of his daughters.

MUMBAI: Bollywood is a tough industry, and maybe his daughters Sonam and Rhea could have chosen something “safer”. But proud father, Anil Kapoor says he has always encouraged them to do whatever they wanted to and will continue to back them in their endeavours.

“This is a tough industry. You would feel better if your kids chose something else which is safer, less speculative and less in the face. But in this industry, both success and failure are for public scrutiny. In other professions, even if you can’t make it or you change your profession, no one will get to know,” Anil told IANS in an interview.

“This is a very, very challenging profession. They have decided to be in it so I have never discouraged them [daughters],” he added.

While Sonam, 27, has made her mark in Bollywood as an actor, Rhea, 25, prefers to stay behind the camera. Apart from being a fashion designer, Rhea was an assistant director on Wake Up Sid and went on to produce her first film Aisha in 2010. She is now working on a new film titled Herogiri.

Though Sonam and Rhea started working at a young age, they still have fun like all other young girls, said Anil, who also has a son, Harshvardhan.

Kapoor feels acting in Bollywood  films is very challenging. PHOTO: FILE

“Instead of wasting time or doing something else, they started working. It is not that they don’t have fun. They have fun the way all the young girls should have,” said the 53-year-old. “But they became conscious of work and started respecting their profession at a very young age, which is very good and I am very proud of.”

Sonam made her Bollywood debut opposite Ranbir Kapoor with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya, which failed in the box-office, but Anil is unfazed.

“When your first film becomes a blockbuster, it is very dangerous. You stop growing as a person because then you’ve got everything easily. Her film not doing well is also a very good thing according to me. Both Ranbir and Sonam are working and are doing films which they believe in, which they like, with good directors and good producers,” he said.

Sonam, who assisted Bhansali when he was making Black, credits her father for being instrumental in shaping her career, but Anil refuses to take the credit.

“It is her upbringing which makes her say that she is privileged to be my daughter. But I can say very proudly that whatever she is today is completely because of her. The way she became an assistant and started working was not an easy task. She has come up the hard way,” he said.

Anil feels Sonam has chosen a tough path, but is confident that her hard work will pay off.

“She works in different projects, which shows her inner confidence. She has chosen a very tough path. But trust me it will be very solid,” said the actor, who will soon be seen in Race 2, which is releasing January 25. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2012.           

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