EXCLUSIVE: Kapil Kaustubh Sharma talks about changing his name due to Kapil Sharma; opens up on Kitu Gidwani's unforgettable role as a ghost-seeing prostitute in Love Is Love: "She told me 'I don't do low-budget projects' but couldn't stop laughing on hearing the role"

Kapil Kaustubh Sharma had a memorable debut in his brother Anil Sharma’s Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo (2004). 6 years after this film, he was back with Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun (2010), which also featured him as a writer. The film got global acclaim and Kapil and his co-star Yuvraaj Parashar then starred in its sequel Dunno Y 2... Life Is a Moment (2015). Recently, they released the third part, Love Is Love (2024) and it premiered on prominent LGBT OTT platforms abroad along with Amazon Prime Video.

In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Kapil Kaustubh Sharma talked about his life after Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo. He began by saying, “After Ab Tumhare, I got the offer for a central role in a TV Show based on the army. It ended up becoming very popular. I had no reservations about being on TV, but I was not sure if I wanted to again play an army man. There were more offers; some didn’t materialize while the rest didn’t interest me. Meanwhile, I signed a movie which my brother Sanjay was making. It was called Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and had a great star cast for that time – Vijay Raaz, Anupam Kher, Prem Chopra, Dilip Joshi, Makrand Deshpande, Pratima Kazmi. Kulraj Randhawa was the actress, and the film also starred Sneha Ullal. It was a good project but due to the dispute between the producers, it never saw the light of day.”

He continued, “I also started writing as I was always keen on direction. I even worked on my acting. I joined Anupam Kher’s acting school. He appreciated my move though some people wondered why I would do so since I had already worked in a movie. Eventually, Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun came my way.”

Kapil said, “2 years after Dunno Y’s release, I was majorly abroad as I would hop from one film festival to another. I did a music video for a Norwegian music group.”

When asked how brother Anil Sharma has reacted to his journey, he replied, “I discuss my work with him. He keeps enquiring. He is proud of the fact that whatever things I have done, good or bad, I have done on my own. After Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo, I was sure that I wouldn’t think that apni family hai film line mein (so I can take their help). I wanted to stand on my own feet. That’s how you can create your identity.”

Kapil Kaustubh Sharma is now looking forward to his OTT show, Margaon - The Closed File. He said, “It's ready and will premiere in the first half of 2025. It has an interesting star cast. It has eight women protagonists - Zeenat Aman, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, Pallavi Joshi, Shilpa Shinde, Kitu Gidwani, Pervin Dastur, Tanaaz Currim Irani and Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal. I have also cast a lot of youngsters. There's also Bharat Dabholkar and Lilliput.”

Mentioning Kitu Gidwani brought back memories of watching her outstanding performance in Love Is Love. It features Kitu as a loud-mouthed prostitute who has the ability to see ghosts, leading to hilarious situations. One scene involving Kitu Gidwani and co-star Ananya Dutta has surfaced on Instagram and has amused netizens.

 

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Kapil Kaustubh Sharma laughed when we brought up Kitu’s name and he remarked, “The best thing is that no one expects her in that way. I wanted unconventional casting for this character. I messaged her asking her if she could work in the film and that we don’t have a lot of budget. However, I assured her that the role is very interesting. She called and said, ‘First of all, I don’t do low-budget projects! But tell me what the character is’. When I told her about her role, she couldn’t stop laughing. She instantly came on board.”

Love Is Love is written and directed by Kapil and also stars Yuvraaj Parashar, Bidita Bag, Mona Ambegaonkar, Zarina Wahab and others. It is expected to be released soon in India digitally.

The tale of three Kapil Sharma’s in Bollywood

Interestingly, Kapil Kaustubh Sharma’s name is similar to that of famous stand-up comedian and TV host, Kapil Sharma. Has there been any confusion because of it? Kapil nodded and explained by giving a backstory, “Pandit Narendra Sharma, who started Vividh Bharti and who wrote the title song for Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1979), made my janam patri. He named me Kaustubh. Nowadays, Sanskrit names are more popular. But then, I used to face difficulty with this name. Hence, my parents opted for a simple name and named me Kapil.”

He continued, “Later, when Kapil Sharma became popular, I started facing a lot of problems. Unke call mujhe aane lage and vice versa. There was one more Kapil Sharma, who made I Me Aur Main (2013) with John Abraham. There was too much confusion. One day, I happened to see my janam patri. By then, I had forgotten that I was originally named Kaustubh. At first, I thought of replacing Kapil with Kaustubh. But it would have again caused problems. That’s how I decided to go for Kapil Kaustubh Sharma.”

 

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