Sanjay Kapoor calls himself “fortunate” that he started his career with Satish Kaushik’s directorial Prem

“This picture is from the first schedule of Prem in 1990,” shares Sanjay and he goes on to talk about his experience of working with Kaushik. and the bond the two shared. “ I knew Satish before Prem happened, as he was also a part of Mr India (1987). We already had a really comfortable equation with each other. I feel fortunate that I started my career under his direction.”

Calling Kaushik an “extremely hardworking man”, Kapoor adds, “People like him, understand acting. He was from theatre and when the director himself is an actor, it makes a huge difference because of the way he treats an actor, especially the newcomers like me and Tabu (his co-star in Prem). Satish was always so very patient in explaining the scenes and making us act. Moreover, he was focussed and knew what exactly he wanted to achieve.”

It took five years for the actor to finally make his acting debut as the film kept getting delayed for some reason or the other. Kapoor recounts, “Initially, (filmmaker) Shekhar Kapoor was supposed to direct the film, but when he couldn’t for whatever reason, Satish came on board. At that time, he was shooting for another film Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. However, the film kept on getting delayed because Sridevi lost her father, Anil (Kapoor) injured his leg and so many things happened. It was only in 1993, after the release of Roop ki Rani.. that we could start shooting for Prem.”

It was 1993 when the team reunited to finally shoot Prem. Kapoor recalls how it was the same year when he started seeing Maheep (his wife now). “Satish, myself and Maheep were pretty friendly and often go out together. He also used to come home, we would have drinks together. Though he was my director, off the set, we were good friends,” shares The Fame Game (2021) actor.

The also reveals that Kaushik was very close to his father. “My father (Surinder Kapoor; producer) used to really like him and treat him like his own son. He used to come to our place to have vadi aaloo made by my mom. He was a big time foodie. This was before Prem and he was a young boy back then. Bonney, Anil, Satish, me and of course Javed sahab being the mentor, formed a group and we were pretty close,” he wraps up.