Interesting Facts and Figures: Anil Kapoor

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Anil Kapoor (born December 24, 1959) is an Indian film actor and producer. 

He first won acclaim for his roles in Yash Chopra’s drama Mashaal (1984) and Shekhar Kapur’s sci-fi Mr. India (1987), and won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in the former.

After a series of successful films, Kapoor earned his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in N. Chandra’s Tezaab in 1988, and later for Indra Kumar’s Beta in 1992. 

Since then, he has starred in a number of critical and commercial successes, including Virasat (1997), for which he won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance; Biwi No.1 (1999); Taal (1999), for which he won his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award; Pukar (2000), for which he won his first National Film Award for Best Actor; and No Entry (2005). Kapoor has thus established himself as one of the most prominent actors of Bollywood.

Kapoor’s first role in an international film was as Prem Kumar in Danny Boyle’s Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Anil Kapoor was born in a chawl in Tilak Nagar, Mumbai, India, to a film producer Surinder Kapoor and Nirmal Kapoor. 

He attended Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School, Chembur. 

Coming from a film-oriented family, Kapoor’s elder brother, Boney Kapoor, is a producer while younger brother Sanjay Kapoor is also a well known actor.

In 1984, he married Sunita Kapoor (née Bhambhani) and had two daughters and a son. 

Kapoor’s elder daughter is the actress Sonam Kapoor. 

As of 2008, his other daughter, Rhea, is studying in New York while his son Harsh is attending Chapman University in Orange, CA.

He is the brother-in-law of the actress Sridevi with whom he has starred in many films.

Kapoor made his Bollywood debut with Umesh Mehra’s Hamare Tumhare (1979) in a supporting role. 

After a few minor roles in films such as Hum Paanch (1980) and Shakti (1982), he got his first leading role in the 1983 Hindi film, Woh Saat Din. 

Kapoor later tried acting in Tollywood and Kollywood, and appeared in the Telugu film Vamsa Vriksham and Mani Ratnam’s Kannada debut film Pallavi Anu Pallavi.

Kapoor won acclaim for his title role in Shekhar Kapur’s sci-fi film Mr. India (1987). The film became one of his biggest box office hits and shot him to superstar status.

In 1988, he was rewarded with his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in the hit film, Tezaab. The following year he delivered more commercial success with Ram Lakhan, Parinda and Rakhwala.

Anees Bazmee’s super-hit comedy No Entry followed for Kapoor that year. The film became the highest grossing film of the year and Kapoor’s comic-timing was applauded.

Slumdog Millionaire has won a number of international awards and received rave reviews from critics across the globe, costing only US $15 million to produce, but pulling in more than $125 million in. 

In January 2009, he attended the 66th Golden Globe Awards ceremony along with the team of Slumdog Millionaire, which won four Golden Globe Awards. Kapoor also received a nomination for Best Ensemble at the Black Reel Awards of 2008 and has won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

In 2009, it was announced that Kapoor would star in the eighth season of the award-winning action series 24. Currently, little details of his role have been offered other than that he will play a "Middle-Eastern leader who comes to the U.S. on a peacemaking mission."

In 2002, Kapoor produced his first film, the comedy Badhaai Ho Badhaai, in which he also starred in, but the film failed to do well. 

Next followed, the critically acclaimed thriller My Wife’s Murder (2005), which also didn’t do well at the box office. 

His next produced film, Gandhi, My Father, which focuses on the relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal Gandhi released in August 3, 2007. Despite being acclaimed by critics and audiences, the film failed to do well.