You Need Luck And Talent To Succeed In Bollywood: Shakti Kapoor

Veteran actor Shakti Kapoor believes that any actor’s success recipe is divided into talent and good luck and it is never only one ingredient that can propel a person’s career forward.

“I feel talent does count, but for someone to observe your talent, you have to do one film and that’s where luck comes in. I come from FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) Pune, and we were 11 boys and 10 girls, and I thought that out those 11 boys, 10 were better than me. The luck factor is so strong that out of those guys, only me and Naseeruddin (Shah) could make it in cinema,” says Kapoor, who has been part of huge hits such as Jaani Dushman (1979), Qurbani (1980), Naseeb (1981), and Rocky (1981).

Giving the example of his son Siddhanth Kapoor, who will soon make his Bollywood debut, and daughter Shraddha Kapoor, who is already 12 films old, the veteran actor says, “My son has studied filmmaking, and assisted (director) Priyadarshan in films and my daughter has done nothing. She was studying in Boston (US). Then she had come back to Mumbai for holidays and she ended up doing movies. The luck factor is so strong for you to become an actor, and then comes the talent.”

Talking about how the approach in the film industry has changed over the years, Shakti Kapoor says that things are highly professional now compared to the earlier times. “They now have auditions for everything. Professionalism has increased, but the luck factor is still there,” he says.