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Photo: R.V. Moorthy

Simple Tastes Rajat Kapoor enjoying his Indian meal.

Milking the multiplex boom, they are winning critical acclaim and box office success with equal ease.

“Like vegetables all film ideas are good, it is up to you what you do with them. It is a great time for people like me as all big budget formulae are failing – be it Ram Gopal Varma’s Aag or Yash Raj’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag,” says Rajat Kapoor settling for a leisurely lunch at The Claridges’ Dhaba restaurant. In a rustic environment, the man with a ‘corporate’ image looks a bit odd but when he shares he is basically from our good old Daryaganj, all pretensions give way.

With watermelon juice as starter, Rajat declares he is for simplicity in food. “Though I like Italian and rasta ka Chinese, not the authentic one, the best is ghar ka khana – dal chapatti with ghea, karela, gobhi…. The only thing is I go mad if I don’t get my lunch in time. It gives me a bad headache.”

One makes a quick eye contact with the waiter to hurry things up and Rajat melts into laughter opting for a simple saag meat with tandoori roti.

“I also take my dinner by 7.30, as it takes at least two hours for digestion. It’s only in India that I have seen people taking dinner at 11 and then going to bed immediately.”

These days Rajat is seen hosting Lounge on NDTV Good Times, where he explores relationships in urban India. “It was difficult to be an anchor because I didn’t know how to act to be myself.” Does he mean Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh act on KBC?

“Of course!” says the director-actor who learnt his craft at FTII and went on to assist the likes of Kumar Sahani and Mani Kaul. For those whose memories don’t serve them well, Rajat is the one who played the role of a paedophile with a straight face in Monsoon Wedding. “However, I found a place in public memory when I played uncle to Preity Zinta in Dil Chahta Hai.”

Talking of big names, Rajat feels today one can sell a film with six top actors. “After that there is no place for Aftab Shivdasanis, as it used to be some years back. Then there is place for scripts which are different and take the viewer by surprise.”

One such movie is his Mithya, where a bad actor played by Ranvir Shorey finds himself in the midst of some gangsters.

Calling shooting food as his favourite cuisine, Rajat has got his saag served in time and he wants to relish it with some old film music. Old films bring him to his latest film, Khoya Khoya Chand, where he plays the established actor who controls the life of an emerging actress.

Rajat says having saag at a five-star or people in a multiplex going mad over a Raghu doesn’t mean that there is increasing acceptance of the other in the society.

“For multiplex audience Raghu is a fantasy. Real Raghus won’t watch it. The only connecting link is consumerism. Like there could be LG-ites, people using the products of only LG!”

It’s time to remind him to keep it light. It’s time to have some kulfi.

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