Abhishek Kapoor on winning the Rock On 2 battle and finding a soulmate in wife Pragya Yadav
Upala KBR (DNA; November 9, 2015)
Much has happened in Abhishek ‘Gattu’ Kapoor’s life over the last year. He quietly tied the knot, turned producer and got himself a new swanky office in Khar where we settle down for a chat...
Now that you have won the case for Rock On 2, is there a feeling of vindication?
I do feel vindicated and relieved, but I see no reason to rejoice. It was never about money at all but just about getting credit for my work. There was nothing more important than that. There was no intent to blackmail anyone, it was purely having my work recognised as mine. Pubali Chaudhari and I have written the script of Rock On 2 and though we tried different ways to resolve it, we couldn’t and had no choice but to go to court. I am thankful to the High Court for having made this judgement and recognising my work and my contribution. But at the end of the day, when two people fight and they are friends and they have go to court for it, there’s a sense of loss and that definitely overrides my sense of winning. I just want to move on.
Have you spoken to Farhan Akhtar or Riteish Sidhwani after the verdict?
There has been no communication with them for some time now. Hopefully, there will be a day in the future when there will be. I haven’t seen Farhan in a long time so I don’t know… Maybe when we meet next time things will clear up. We will see when it comes to that.
Why didn’t you make Rock On 2 with Excel?
I don’t know… I was supposed to direct it. I developed the script to direct it but then somewhere along the way they had a change of heart about wanting me to direct it. I don’t know what it was and we never really got down to speaking about it. It was a script I had written with my co-writer and I was to direct it, but they chose to go somewhere else. I didn’t want someone else to direct my film because I wrote it for me to direct. It’s my child but apparently my contractual obligations said that anything I wrote would belong to them so that clause was raised and so, I had to adhere to it and I was okay with it because that’s what I had signed. I was informed that they another director would be directing Rock On 2 and that was disappointing, but sometimes you have to suck it up!
What took you so long to find the right girl (Pragya) and get married?
Marriage suits me (laughs). I don’t know. That’s something you should ask her. I am in a good space right now. I think I decided to get married because I felt it was time for me to start a family. I met Pragya at a concert in Mumbai and just hit it off instantly. I think so she’s the perfect girl for me. I waited long enough for her to come into my life. She makes me happy and feel great about myself and that’s the most important thing. I got married in May this year when I was in the middle of shooting Fitoor. There was no honeymoon. There was a lot going in my life right now, we are expecting our first baby now… It doesn’t matter whether it’s a boy or girl, but just that the baby should arrive, healthy and fine.
Has it sunk in that you are going to be a father soon?
I haven’t had the time to digest all of it. I don’t know where to put my head and my film’s releasing in February next year so I have two babies now coming back-to-back. When I was told that I was becoming a father, at first. I didn’t believe it. It took me about a week to digest the fact that it’s true. I would shrug it off and think, yeh kaise ho sakta hai (laughs)? Now finally it’s sunk in. Fortunately, it’s all been good so far. Pragya is very understanding. When you marry a filmmaker, you have to be, it comes with the territory.
Instead of the big, fat Punjabi wedding, you had a low-key one with close friends and family in attendance. Why?
Two things — I was in the middle of my movie so I didn’t have time to plan my wedding. I didn’t have time to host our reception also. Also it was nice the way it was — small and intimate and paying attention to just a few friends and family members. Celebrations and big parties can always happen later.
How did you propose to her?
It was at my friend’s wedding in Udaipur when Pragya and I were at the back lawns of the palace. I just felt the moment was right and I popped the question. I didn’t tell my friend or he would have thought I was stealing his wedding moments! (laughs) It was a beautiful setting… I wouldn’t call myself a romantic but yes, it was a very romantic moment.