“Shahid Kapoor Had An Innocent Look Like Salman Khan To Make It Big,” He Dropped Step-Dad Khatter, & Used Pankaj Kapur’s Name For His Debut Film Reveals Producer
Shahid Kapoor started working at a very early age, but his official name was Shahid Khatter, surname of his stepfather, Rajesh Khatter!
Shahid Kapoor Was Shahid Khatter Before Making A Debut In Ishq Vishk ( Photo Credit – YouTube )
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Shahid Kapoor is one of the few actors in his generation who started out very young in the industry. In fact, even before becoming an actor, he was a part of Shiamak Davar’s dance troupe, where he danced as a background dancer in Dil To Pagal Hai and Taal.
However, many might not know that his official name was not Kapoor but Khatter before he signed the dotted line for his first film, which was produced by Ramesh Taurani. Shahid’s mother, Neelima Azim, was married to actor and voice-over artist Rajesh Khatter then, and Shahid was Shahid Khatter, just like his brother Ishan Khatter!
In one of his interviews with News 18, producer Ramesh Taurani talked about the fact and revealed, “I had no clue Shahid was Pankaj Kapur’s son. His name was earlier Shahid Khatter and not Kapoor. In the film, he changed it to Kapoor.”
So clearly, it was not Pankaj Kapur or Neelima Azeem who helped Shahid grab his first film, but it was Salman Khan! Or let us be more specific, it was his innocent-looking Salman Khan-like face! Before making his film debut, Shahid was already the millennial guy from the music video ‘Aankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra’, where he was cast with Hrishita Bhatt. The music video went crazy viral, and everyone recognized Shahid if they did not know him by his name!
It was then that Ramesh Taurani promised to launch Shahid Kapoor and called him into his office. During the meeting, he told the actor, “You are very good. And I think you can become a good actor. But you are looking too young, so I think you should wait, but you will get a good launch.”
Talking about casting him for Ishq Vishk, Ramesh Taurani recalled, “What I thought about Shahid after watching his music video is that he is very innocent. When you cast a hero, that innocence should always be there. If you notice, actors with an innocent look, like Salman Khan or Ajay Devgn, are the ones who make it big in the industry.”
Ishq Vishk was released in the year 2003 and turned Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao and Shenaz Treasurywala into unexpected stars. Shahid and Amrita were paired together for Sooraj Barjatya’s Vivaah as well.
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