The cool Mr Anil Kapoor
The actor's youthful freshness amazes many. But more than that, we are struck by his ability to keep going and celebrate life.
When Anil Kapoor recently posted his photo with the team of Malang — his upcoming movie — on his social media accounts, he must have thought that his outrageously unapologetic candy-pink shoes would become the talk of the town.
Well, he did become the talk of the town — but only when people zoomed in on Anil Kapoor himself.
From left to right in the picture, there are Mohit Suri, Disha Patani, Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor and Kunal Khemu. No prizes for guessing who the seniormost among them is. But surely, there’s a prize to decode the curious case of the 62-year-old Anil Kapoor.
Brad Pitt popularised F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character Benjamin Button, who was born as an old man and yet, regresses through time to finally end up as a newborn. The 2008 movie has the same name as the 1922 short story: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
There are threads of discussion on whether Benjamin’s case was an actual one. Many refer to Progeria — a rare genetic disorder where the body ages fast.
But please push all those serious discussions aside. We have here the curious case of Anil Kapoor. Yes, he doesn’t look his age. Not one bit.
Unfriendly critics have been pointing to the youth-giving properties of Botox. Of course it's widely used in the film industry. And of course nobody from the film industry will confirm this. But rumours always fly in the industry. And such rumours about Anil Kapoor have been there for quite some time, simply because we have literally seen wrinkles, fine lines, even not so fine ones, vanishing into thin air.
Anil Kapoor now looks younger than young Anil Kapoor himself. ???? pic.twitter.com/bp3KzKmfpx
— Angoor Stark ???????????? (@ladywithflaws) March 4, 2019
Anil himself is no stranger to how it works. He was the one who apparently blurted out Shilpa Shetty’s name on the sets of Koffee with Karan as an example of the worst Botox in the industry. He also clarified that the shooting of Badhai Ho Badhai was disrupted apparently because Shilpa did something to her nose and lips.
So, this is a fairly open secret — a professional hazard, or an occupational skill, depending on how you see it.
Me: When Anil Kapoor was born1. Nehru was still PM2. Dr. Prasad was president3. Indo-China War was 6 years away5. Sikkim was still an independent country.4. LIC had just been incorporated5. Pather Panchali was the highest grossing film of the yearAnil Kapoor: pic.twitter.com/B1K2oHDFYS
— अंशुल (@Ghair_Kanooni) March 4, 2019
But superficialities aside, what we are really curious to know is what succour Anil is feeding his soul that he is on a spree, signing movies full of thrills, which do unexpectedly well at the box office too. Total Dhamaal, despite its brainlessness (or perhaps because of it) has crossed the Rs 100-crore mark. And Anil is already on the sets of another promising film — with his pink shoes firmly on.
His Bollywood career has been so long that no one would believe it's the same person who once became a meme for his chest hair and then, for his young look, or who essayed both the roles of Mr India and Majnu Bhai — in the same lifetime.
To cut out the cliches, we are not saying jhakkaas! But yes, we are in awe of Anil Kapoor's joie-de-vivre, his indefatigable ability to keep working, and his ability to make invisible all those lines of life, from the skin to the soul and mind, in a way Mr India would be proud of!