Kunal Kapoor (actor, born 1959)

This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 23 November 2024.

Kunal Kapoor (born 26 June 1959)[2] is an Indian actor, film producer, director and advertisement maker. Elder son of actors Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal, he made his debut with the 1972 English-language film Siddhartha, later acted in Shyam Benegal's Junoon and in his first mainstream Bollywood film, Ahista Ahista, opposite Padmini Kolhapure as well as Vijeta. He also acted in the art films Utsav (1984) and Trikal (1985).[3]

Kunal Kapoor
Kapoor in 2020
Born (1959-06-26) 26 June 1959 (age 65)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • filmmaker
OrganizationAdfilm-Valas
Spouse
Sheena Sippy
(divorced)
Children2, including Zahan Kapoor
Parents
FamilyKapoor family, Sippy family

In 1987, he stopped acting after Trikal to set up his own company, Adfilm-Valas, to produce and direct television commercials. Adfilm Valas has also line-produced for many international feature films and ad films shot in India. Notably, the credit sequence of the film City of Joy, and the French films Le Cactus [fr] (2005) and Fire in Paradise.

In 2015, he returned to films after 30 years, appearing in Singh is Bling as Amy Jackson's character's father.

Personal life

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Kunal Kapoor was born into the famous first family of Bollywood, the Kapoor family, the eldest child of Shashi Kapoor and his British theater-actress wife Jennifer Kapoor. His paternal grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor, was a doyen of the theatre, a pioneer of the Indian film industry and the progenitor of the famous Kapoor family. His maternal grandfather, Geoffrey Kendal, was a British theatre personality. Kapoor's mother, Jennifer, died of cancer in 1984, while his father, Shashi Kapoor, died in December 2017.[citation needed]

Kapoor's siblings are Karan Kapoor (b. 18 January 1962) and Sanjana Kapoor (b. 27 November 1967). Karan, a popular model who also worked in a few films in the 1980s, now runs a photography business in the UK. Sanjana ran the ancestral Prithvi Theatre and is married to Valmik Thapar, a noted conservationist.

Kunal was married to filmmaker Ramesh Sippy's daughter Sheena, who is a well-known photographer. They have two children together, a son named Zahan Prithviraj Kapoor, and a daughter named Shaira Kapoor. Kunal and Sheena are now divorced.[4]

Filmography

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Actor

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Year Film Role Notes
1972 Siddhartha Siddhartha's son English film
1978 Junoon
1981 Ahista Ahista Kunal
1982 Vijeta Angad
1984 Utsav Aryak
1985 Trikal Kapitan Ribeiro/ Governor
2015 Singh is Bling Mr. Rana, Sara's Father [5]
2019 Panipat Shuja-ud-Daula

References

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  1. ^ "Kunal Kapoor returns to acting". The Indian Express. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  2. ^ Meet the Shashi Kapoor no one knew, Rediff
  3. ^ "Kunal Kapoor returns to acting". The Indian Express. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  4. ^ Meet the Kapoors, Network 18.
  5. ^ Shashi Kapoor's son Kunal Kapoor returns to acting with Akshay Kumar's 'Singh Is Bliing'. The Indian Express. 26 June 2015
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