Kaveri Kapur and Vardhan Puri get candid about Bobby Aur Rishi Ki Love Story

“When Kaveri was born, laddoos were distributed in our house as Shekhar Kapur ke ghar ladki paida hui hai”, says actor Vardhan Puri, talking about his serendipitous connection with debutante actress Kaveri Kapur, seated next to him, as he narrated this incident. Kaveri’s father Shekhar Kapur directed Mr. India (1987) starring Vardhan’s grandfather actor Amrish Puri as the villain Mogambo. We met the duo in Mumbai to chat about their film Bobby Aur Rishi Ki Love Story directed by Kunal Kohli. They opened up about the film, their friendship, and more.

Bobby Aur Rishi Ki Love Story is quite an innocent love story. How do you both look at this aspect in today’s romantic relationships?

Kaveri Kapur: People often describe me as innocent but I want to know what is the definition of innocent. This is just the way I am. I don’t know another way to be. I think innocence is being pure-hearted and honest. And people like that exist in every generation, right?

Vardhan Puri: I remember a funny incident from childhood. Something had happened in school and I said to my grandparents, “People have become mean. Earlier generation was innocent.” They said, “People in our generation used to say the same thing.”

In my grandfather’s generation, if a boy liked a girl but could never express his feelings, it would remain a cute, innocent memory. Today, if you know a girl’s name or her Insta handle, it’s easy to approach her. People might think it’s too direct. But had this option been there before, people would have opted for this. People haven’t changed much; the medium of communication has become convenient. Expression has become easier.

Kaveri, what was going on in your mind when you faced the camera for the first time in your debut feature film?

Kaveri Kapur: My dad (filmmaker Shekhar Kapur) has always told me that acting is being. This is the only piece of advice he has given me. Don’t think of it as acting. Think of it as being. So, for the first few shots, I’d try to imagine what’s going on is really happening in real life. If I were Bobby, how would I be feeling? How would that show on my face? What would I say versus what would I think? So, I was just trying to make it as realistic performance as possible.

Vardhan, how has your experience of working as an assistant director helped you as an actor?

Vardhan Puri: Tremendously. I worked as an AD for 4.5 years. The most beautiful times were about being in the middle of a conversation between the director and cinematographer. I have spent time with Jaideep Sahni, Habib Faisal, Maneesh Sharma and Aditya Chopra sir from the writing to the post-production of films. I have dealt with actors right from casting, briefing, and giving them cues and director’s instructions. When you understand the whole gamut of filmmaking, you become egoless as an actor. You realize actors are as great as cinematographers, light men and spotboys. They are one of the parts of a film. Everybody on a film set is replaceable. You also learn that apart from honing your acting craft, you have to be technically sound too. You also realize that nobody knows anything. All of us just go there and find our truth to the best of our capability.

What kind of conversations did you both have to work on your chemistry?

Kaveri Kapur: I don’t think we had to work on it. It came naturally. We hit it off well.

Vardhan Puri: We didn’t work on it because we wanted it to happen organically. We didn’t try to become best friends. We enjoyed doing the readings together, enjoying the process and soon became best friends. Sometimes, we wouldn’t realize whether the cameras were rolling or not. Then Kunal sir would say, “I think we’re good.” He just indulged us. He gave us the liberty to take a few minutes extra on a take and keep rolling. He saw the chemistry in the making. By the time we finished shooting, nobody in the world knew me better than Kaveri did and vice versa.

The film explores serendipity. Have you watched the 2001 film Serendipity starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale?

Kaveri Kapur: There’s a film called Serendipity? No, I haven’t watched it.

Vardhan Puri: Yes, I have. There’s also a famous restaurant in New York named after the film.

Have you ever had serendipitous experiences in life?

Vardhan Puri: I have had two such experiences – one with Kunal sir and one with Kaveri.

The first time I watched a movie in a theatre and was left in awe was Kunal sir’s Hum Tum (2004). I watched that film in the theatre a few times and wanted to work with Kunal sir someday. Many years later, I got a call for his film. I think the universe has a plan for you. I was dying to do a rom-com and who better than Kunal Kohli to do your first rom-com? If this is not serendipity, then what is?

There was a celebration at my house when Shekhar Kapur’s daughter was born. Laddoos were distributed in my house, saying, “Shekhar Kapur ke ghar ladki paida hui hai”. I have eaten that laddoo. When I met Shekhar Kapur sir at Yash Raj Studios when I was doing a screen test, he was talking about Kaveri and her songs and singing. Cut to years later, she was cast alongside me in this film.

What both our families share is Mr. India. The film established Shekhar sir as a genius commercial director. And it gave my grandfather (Amrish Puri who played the villain Mogambo) an incomparable status. “Mogambo khush hua” is one of the most popular dialogues in Hindi cinema. Shekhar sir and my grandfather shared a great bond. And now Kaveri and I have been cast without any influence from our families, on pure merit. It’s true serendipity.

Kaveri Kapur: It’s destiny. See, I am still a baby. Maybe I have serendipitous moments to come in the future.

Please share some memorable moments from the shooting of the film.

Kaveri Kapur: Anything I will say, I’ll be too honest and I’ll get in trouble.

Vardhan Puri: There was a scene where I had to run on the road. There was a pothole and I tripped and fell badly in a running shot. There was a speeding bus behind me. Fortunately, it stopped on its brakes otherwise I would have died. I almost fractured my ankle. I was in excruciating pain and I saw how affected Kaveri was by that. I realized that the friendship and connection we have is so real and it is not limited to this film. It’s going to last for a lifetime. At that moment, something changed and we became family to each other.

Kaveri Kapur: We did a reiki session because he was in pain and about some general trauma thing. Like energetic healing. The healer was working on him. I was sitting in a corner and I started sobbing, like water falling from a tap. I was like, what is this connection?

Vardhan Puri: I have great friends and we love each other. But I often used to think that a pure friendship was missing in my life. But the level of honesty I share with Kaveri, I have not had with anyone else. It’s an honest connection and I pray to god that it lasts a lifetime.

How would you describe love?

Vardhan Puri: Love is being unafraid of being yourself completely. You have the confidence that you’re never going to be judged by the other person. When someone accepts you for what you are with all your imperfections and doesn’t want to change anything in you.

The other day, I had this thought about love. If I pray for you before going to sleep, it means I love you. Love is just wanting the best for someone and wanting them to be happy, caring for them, and being able to share everything with them. And being fiercely protective about them; not possessive. That for me is love.

Kaveri Kapur: There are different forms of love. In a non-romantic context, when I used to hear “we are all one” I used to think that it’s some spiritual thing people say. But at some point, if you really explore what that means, you start to feel it. And that’s when you realize that love is the only thing that’s real. The rest is just an illusion. Life is a weird videogame. We come from love and go back to love. We learn some lessons in the middle.