New Delhi:
Priyanka Chopra received critical acclaim for the 2011 film 7 Khoon Maaf. But there was also a controversy when Annu Kapoor revealed Priyanka Chopra’s hesitance to kiss him onscreen because he wasn’t a ‘hero’ or ‘good-looking’. Last year, Kapoor also stated that his statement had been ‘blown out of proportion’. In a recent interaction, Annu Kapoor revisited the controversy.
What’s Happening
- On Siddharth Kannan’s podcast, Annu Kapoor said, “What else could it be? More than my looks, the problem was that I am not a hero. I don’t really know. When we worked together in the Vishal Bhardwaj film Saat Khoon Maaf, several journalists kept asking me if Priyanka refused to kiss me. This was around 16 years ago. During one such interaction, someone asked me why she didn’t kiss me, and I replied, ‘That’s her wish.’ Woh baar baar puch rahe the aur main jhujhla ke bola (They kept pestering me, and I eventually got irritated and said, ‘Maybe she would have if I was a star.’)”
- He continued, “It never made a difference to me. I was unbothered. Vishal Bhardwaj told me she was hesitant to kiss me. I used to call her ‘beta‘ as I had bonded well with her father on set. After winning Miss World, she had come to Antakshari. So when I was told she wasn’t comfortable, I said, ‘That makes sense.’ I even suggested removing the scene, but Vishal refused. We had to go ahead with it. Actors can’t appear uncomfortable on camera, so we did the scene professionally.”
How Priyanka Chopra Reacted
Annu Kapoor had said, “She doesn’t have a problem doing intimate scenes with heroes. If talent goes out of the window, I guess you just need to be good-looking.”
Priyanka Chopra strongly reacted to Annu Kapoor’s comments in a 2011 interview with Hindustan Times, where she said, “If he wants to do intimate scenes and pass such cheap comments, then he should do those kinds of films. Such scenes were never part of our film. I’m very irritated. I don’t think unko aisa kehna shobha deta hai (saying such things doesn’t suit him at all). I don’t think he knew that his comments would upset me, but they really did. It was very wrong of him to speak the way he did.”
About 7 Khoon Maaf
In 7 Khoon Maaf, Annu Kapoor essayed the role of one of Priyanka Chopra’s seven onscreen husbands. It was loosely based on Ruskin Bond’s story Susanna’s Seven Husbands and also had Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Alexander Dyachenko in key roles.
