Annu Kapoor recalls rejection in Barry John’s play despite being top scorer: ‘I was mentally disturbed’

Veteran actor Annu Kapoor has recalled an incident during his National School of Drama (NSD) days that ‘mentally disturbed’ him. He remembered wanting to participate in a play directed by Barry John and despite being the ‘top scorer’ he was rejected as he ‘did not have the face for the role’ of a play. Annu revealed that the role then went ‘someone else’.

In an interview, Annu Kapoor also spoke about his first rejection. He has said that after everything he has done, he has faced only rejections.

Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Annu said, “There was a play happening at NSD which was being directed by Barry John. He asked everyone to perform and said that when you perform, I will evaluate and when I perform you evaluate. I ended up being the top scorer but I did not have the face for the role and it went to someone else. I was mentally disturbed by the incident and that was the first and last time I was disturbed. I was upset with this rejection. When I got the most marks why wasn’t I given the role? They were like you have the marks but not the face for the character.”

On his first rejection, Annu Kapoor said laughing, “Rejection hi rejection hai. Acceptance kaha hua hai. Itna sab karne ke baad rejection hi hua hai (There’s only been rejection. Where is the acceptance? Despite doing all these there has only been rejection)”.

In May, Annu had slammed celebrities for sharing their vacation pictures when India was at battling the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. He had told Bollywood Hungama in Hindi, “It is like eating a lavish meal in front of people who are starving. We know you are rich and can afford it, we know you have a beautiful body. What else can you be showing? It doesn’t look good. There is a German term called ‘kitsch’. It means art in bad taste.”

He had tweeted in April, “I humbly appeal to rich and famous from all walks of life and media not to post their pictures vacationing at exotic locations while the most of the world suffers with pandemic. Kisi ko jalaa ke majloomon ki baddua kyun lena (Why should you attract the curse of the downtrodden by making them jealous)?”

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Annu made his film Bollywood debut with the 1983 film Mandi by Shyam Benegal. Since then, he has worked in several films, including Betaab, Mr India, Tezaab, Ram Lakhan, ChaalBaaz, Ghayal, Darr, Aitraaz, Vicky Donor, and Jolly LLB 2 among many others. He is a recipient of the National Award. He has also hosted singing show Close-Up Antakshari.