They claim to be like the Sense and Sensibility sisters — “as different as chalk and cheese”. The highest common factor between the two daughters of Anil Kapoor is their uninhibited laugh. With just three films (and only one hit), Sonam Kapoor is seen to be the stylish future of Bollywood. And now sister Rhea debuts with Aisha — where Sonam plays the title role — as a producer. We got the Kapoor sisters to talk sense and sensibility about cinema, their Dad and each other. Read on...

SONAM

You finally have a hit with I Hate Luv Storys. How sweet is success?

Very sweet! I feel really good because at the end of the day you make movies so that people watch them. But at the same time that doesn’t make IHLS extra special from my other films. Every film that I have done till now (Saawariya and Delhi-6) has been a positive experience for me.

Will it be two in a row with Aisha?

Hope so. I am very positive about the film. I will tell you why. It should do very well because it will appeal to all sorts of audience — people who enjoy classic novels will like it and people who enjoy commercial cinema will also like it.

How much of Jane Austen is there in the film?

The soul of the film is Austen. The story is Austen. The characters are Austen. The only things that have changed in the adaptation are the time and the space. The clothes have changed, the dances have changed. The language, of course, is different. But it’s still very much Emma.

The promos have led many to believe that Aisha is Bollywood’s answer to Sex and the City in terms of look and style. Is that helping the film?

I think that’s awesome buzz. You know what, the character of Emma loved beautiful clothes. She was aspirational for Harriet and that’s why she gave her a makeover. So you had this world of dressmakers and millionaires, parties and tea sessions… Clothes were very much a part of her personality and she used to dress in a very elegant way. We had to bring that bit of her characterisation. It was not like we wanted to make Sex and the City or Gossip Girl.

Is Emma your favourite Jane Austen?

The character, yes. I started reading Austen when I was 12-13 and she became my favourite novelist. She wrote love stories and I was really young. Before I read Emma, my favourite was Sense and Sensibility. Because of the dynamics of the two sisters… how two very different people love each other equally. That was largely because I saw that between Rhea and me. Both of us are very similar to the two characters Elinor and Marianne. We are as different as chalk and cheese. We have very different goals in life and I also feel that she complements me really well. Whatever I don’t have, she has and whatever she doesn’t have, I have. It was only later that I read Emma.

What did you like so much about Emma?

You know there was a quote in the preface of one of the Jane Austen books, where she called Emma “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”. And I was like what does she mean by that? After reading Emma I understood what she meant. All of Austen’s heroines came from a poor background and didn’t have much in life. This girl Emma is really privileged because her life is settled. She doesn’t have any external conflict like an evil mother-in-law or a suitor with too much pride. Her conflict was internal, her growing up. That was something I really found interesting. And when you have such a character graph, such a changing arc, it’s so difficult to play that.

Emma was set in 19th century rural England. Don’t you think the concept of a rich girl matchmaking for a poor girl is regressive in today’s India?

I don’t know. I know people who still do it. I am sure you do it for your friends. If you find some girl hot, maybe you will… It’s about helping people connect and find happiness in love. It doesn’t sound regressive. Love is never out of date or out of style. And you want people to be happy, those who you care about. Only being loved can get you true happiness.

Have you done anything different in Aisha, given it’s a home production?

I have worked a little harder (sly grin).

Have you worked for free?

No, I never work for free (eyes widening).

You had told us that your father wouldn’t have cast you if you were not fit for the film. Having done Aisha, do you think you have justified his faith in you?

I don’t know. You have to ask him that. Unfortunately he couldn’t come here… he is unwell. I think he felt I really suited the role or maybe (director) Rajshree (Ojha) was really adamant that I do the role. Hope I have made him proud.

After Saawariya, Hollywood Reporter ran this article about you as the next big Asian star. Now that your father is also so important there, why haven’t you taken up anything in the West?

Because Saawariya was made by Sony Pictures, which is a Hollywood production company, my pictures were everywhere. People knew who I was and since then I have been getting a lot of offers. Even now there are offers. But it all depends on the role and what you want to do at this stage of your career. Right now, I am in a very comfortable space. I want to work really hard and do anything that has something special. The language really doesn’t matter. The world is becoming so small and technicians are moving from there to here and here to there. So you can work anywhere. There’s only multi-cultural movies happening.

Aisha also sees Rhea debut as a producer…

It makes the film that much more special for me because it’s my baby sister doing something which she is very, very good at and which, I know, she will be very, very successful at. She is producing the film for our father and I am playing the title role… it’s a big deal for us. And we only talk about work now at home (laughs out loud).

RHEA

You are leading a team of young actors with incredible energy. Is this infectious energy the USP of Aisha?

See, to tell you the truth, I was the youngest on the sets of the film. (Rhea is all of 23.) But I had to play the role of a strict teacher. And in real life I am quite the opposite. I am usually someone who lets people be themselves and just let things go with the flow. But I became an uptight little bitch (laughs out hysterically) to control all these guys on the sets. The energy was always fantastic. They are not only all very talented but they worked really hard. We had a blast. We worked hard and we partied harder.

Did you become a producer by chance?

Rajshree and (scriptwriter) Devika (Bhagat) have been working on the project for a while. They sent Sonam an SMS that we have written this adaptation of Emma and we heard that you are a Jane Austen fan; can we come and meet you? We called them over and they came and they told us the treatment of the film. They left two scripts with us which we both of us read. And Sonam was like: “Oh my god, I want to do this! It’s so cute!” I was like “for sure”. I wanted Sonam to play Emma because there are lots of similarities between the two of them. We were really impulsive about it and we wanted Dad to produce it. For the next three weeks we chased him to read the script, which he didn’t. Finally two months later we had the two ladies come over and narrate the script. And he loved it. It was Dad who suggested that I should produce the film. He said: “I am tied up with so many things and it’s the right genre for you… your age group!” I had just come out of college, I was all of 21 and I said: “Sure, I will produce!” When I started producing it, I was like “Oh crap, this is what it means?” (laughs out loud). You may technically know what production is but when you are in charge of 150 eccentric and creative people, it’s something else.

But you must have had other plans. What did you dream of becoming?

As I said, I was always going with the flow. There was a lot of pressure on me, of course. From the time I was 16 or 17, everybody would ask: “When is your launch? When are you making your debut?” I would always think, do I really want to become an actress? And when people say the same thing to you so many times, you really start thinking that maybe that’s the only way to go. Then I went to New York to study and finally I could breathe. I realized that this was what the world is about. When you grow up in Bollywood, you think that it is the whole world but actually it’s just a tiny part of the world. I majored in dramatic literature and I studied theatre. Then I came back and I was like, now what? Ayan Mukerji met me outside Zenzi and told me: “Babe come naa, work on Wake Up Sid.” I said, okay. Within three days I realized that “Rhea Kapoor, you cannot be an actor!” You will die… you will hate the job. But I fell in love with the set and I knew I wanted to do something around it. So when Aisha came to me, it was perfect.

Are you happy with the production choices your father has made till now?

Gandhi My Father was not the most commercially viable film but then nobody really knows what commercial is. Commercial keeps changing. It will never be a constant because it depends on taste, which keeps changing. Item numbers were so in three years ago and today they are the most passé, tacky, B-grade things around. You have to go with your conviction, what film do you want to see. Gandhi My Father established the brand of our company. Short Kut being the escape from that was definitely a wrong move. At that time it was economically viable for our company and because we made that, we could make Aisha and No Problem. Aisha is a fresh new direction for us and from here on I would make films intelligently, films that I want to see and with a modest budget. Making films for Rs 60 crore even if it has Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan is just stupid.

Won’t your Dad be involved with your projects?

We have mutually agreed on it. Like No Problem is his baby. And Aisha is mine. Aisha has been my thing right from the start. Dad saw the rushes only after we finished the schedule. He was involved in the post-production stages and I really wouldn’t have been able to do without him. It was my first film and I was really freaking out.

Are you happy with the way your Dad’s character has taken a twist in the last couple of years?

I am really proud of him. He is such an impulsive mad guy and also the worst businessman in the world (laughs out loud). I am happy that he is not putting all his eggs in the production basket. That ain’t gonna happen. He is so successful in so many ways is because he loves what he does and he has so much respect for it. He is a professional through and through. I have never heard him say that I want to make so many lakhs or so many crores. He has always wanted to do different kinds of roles. That’s what keeps him happy, healthy and young looking. He is not concerned about where his next cheque is coming from. And even when he was struggling he never allowed us to feel it. We always had our own lives. We didn’t have any film magazines in our house. When Boney Chachi and Mona Chachi split up, I remember it was on the front page of Stardust and someone had brought it to our house. And my mother threw a fit. This is what ruins the sacredness of ours homes, she said.

What about Sonam? Aren’t you proud of what she has achieved so soon?

Sonam is another version of Dad. She is a little more hysterical (laughs hysterically herself). She is a little more emotional version of his, but a version of his nonetheless. She is obviously a little more ambitious than Dad, I am not going to lie. Because that’s how our times are today. But the woman will never do something to harm someone, given that the industry has become what it has become… so much back-biting and false story planting. Sonam is always excited about her roles and so positive about her co-actors. I just hope that she continues to be like that and concentrates on her roles whole-heartedly and never becomes like one of those annoying heroines I hate.