Even an ‘extra’ is cast carefully these days: Sanjay Kapoor opens up about his character in 'Fame Game'

When director Karishma Kohli first met writer Sri Rao in New York over 10 years ago as the second assistant director on a project he was working on too, she did not know that they’d end up creating a huge show together for Netflix years down the line.

Talking about her latest directorial stint, The Fame Game, Kohli says, “I stayed in touch with Sri over the years, and when he came down here, I read the episodes and it blew my mind. It was beautifully written, a great story and I was dying to be a part of it.” And so, friendship and an interesting storyline made her take the leap of working on it.

For actor Sanjay Kapoor, the project was more interesting because he’d never played a character like Nikhil More before. He shares that the character wasn’t just a grey or complex one, but had so many different layers to it.

Says he, “He [the character] has a dysfunctional relationship with his son, his wife is having an affair, and with each episode, the various emotions being portrayed on screen keep evolving.” It didn’t matter that he was playing a negative character, because in the end, that character is redeemed too. Kapoor smiles, “The sincerity with which Nikhil accepts his son and speaks to his mother-in-law is so moving, and being a parent myself, the emotions just flowed in the moment.”

But that wasn’t all. What sealed the deal for Kapoor was the fact that a dedicated team of wonderful people was working on the project, and that he had complete faith it was a powerful script.

Once on the sets, the crew almost became like a family. For Kohli, who doesn’t like shooting in Bombay anyway, it became all the more memorable because of everyone staying together. She smiles, “We all made some great connections and relationships that we’ll cherish for sure.” Kapoor nods in agreement. What he found unique was how even though there were two directors on set, they never competed with each other and instead complemented each other’s work perfectly.

Kapoor talks about how Rao was supposed to direct a few episodes and Kohli was supposed to direct the others. But due to Covid, that couldn’t happen. Instead, they brought in Bejoy Nambiar. However, the actor says that it never felt like he was working with two different directors, because their vision completely aligned with each other. Kapoor smiles, “They brought out so much positivity during the shoot.”

A welcome change for him, on the sets, though was that unlike the 90s, when anyone could play an extra on the set, “even for one single dialogue, actors had been specially cast”. Kapoor strongly feels this attention to detail is the reason Indian shows are topping the charts everywhere today.

But as much as Kapoor appreciated that, he’s glad some things haven’t changed. “I saw Madhuri [Dixit] being very polite and encouraging and a positive influence on our younger co-stars, never making them feel that they were sitting with a superstar. And it was the same 27 years back as well, when we worked together and she encouraged me on the sets,” shares the actor.

And while, for the first time, Kohli felt that her creative vision did match the final show, and that the end product was actually satisfying, she never imagined the show would receive so much level. Both Kapoor and Kohli agree that their phones haven’t stopped buzzing since the show released.

Kapoor shares, “It’s so satisfying to know that your work is being appreciated by people. All the love pouring in is so overwhelming.”

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)