Bhubaneswar: Anil Kapoor with kiddish look, small eyes, bushy hair and triangular face definitely has not the charming hero looks.
He has been struggling to break the screen with hero image. No producer-director has been casting him as hero. As an actor he debuted in 1979, none in Bollywood offered him a hero role, though he finally broke the jinx with his home production Woh Saat Din.
But success as star hero eluded this Kapoor.
It was the year 1983-84. Anil Kapoor was struggling hard to get into the boot of a star hero. Famous director Yash Chopra was in search of an actor for his movie Mashaal.
ANIL’S SHEER LUCK?
Yash Chopra was making the film with Dilip Kumar in lead. He approached Amitabh Bachchan first, offereing him the role against Dilip Kumar. It didn’t materialize.
The other lead role offer then went to Sunny Deol who had become an overnight star after the super-duper success of Betaab. Yash signed Sunny Deol for the role of Raja.But father Dharmendra put his foot down. The He-man of Hindi Cinema thought it was too early for his son Sunny to work with Dilip Kumar. Sunny left the project.
Yash Chopra then approached Tamil superstar Kamal Hassan who had scored a blockbuster with Ek Duje Ke Liye, But met with no success.
At this point of time, Javed Akthar and Shabana Azmi recommended Anil Kapoor’s name. Yash signed Anil Kapoor.
ANIL TOLD A LIE TO YASH TO GET THE FILM
When Yash approached Anil Kapoor for the role, Anil told Yash that he did two films – Woh7Din and Laila. Fearing that he will be rejected, Anil hid from Yash Chopra that he did a film titles Rachna. Anil used to hide that he played the hero in the film Rachna from everyone. He did so with Yash Chopra, too.
But as the adage goes truth can never gets hidden, it will manifest one day or the other.
It happens so, one day Yash Chopra was driving around the downtown with Anil Kapoor when he come across dozens of Anil Kapoor's movie Rachna's poster's.
Anil got very uncomfortable and embarrassed as he did not tell Yash Chopra about this movie. Chopra was under the impression that Anil only had Woh 7 Din and Laila to his credit. Yash put Anil at ease and told him not to worry.
41 YEARS AGO
Forty-one years ago, Mashaal, remake of Malayalam movie Ithile Iniyum Varu, hit the theatres and Anil''s race to stardom was unlocked.
The film starring Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Anil Kapoor and Rati Agnihotri hit the silve screens. And Mashaal flashes the 'star' flash light on Anil kapoor.
The film opened the gates of stardom for Anil Kapoor.
On the night of the premiere of Mashaal, Anil Kapoor signed Feroz Khan's Jaanbaz and Subhash Ghai's Mere Jung.
THIS FILM GIVES ANIL HIS VALENTINE
Buoyed by the signing of two big budget films, Anil felt assured that the doors to his stardom are now unbolted.
Seeing a starry future ahead, on the premiere night of the film Anil Kapoor directly rushed to the house of his girlfriend Sunita and proposed her.
