The Firstpost Show: Anil Kapoor talks '24', 'hair-raising' memes, Sonam-Harsh

The latest episode of The Firstpost Show had a very special guest on board — Anil Kapoor.

The veteran actor is all geared up for another super season of his spellbinding TV show 24, and took some time out of its promotions to sit down for a chat with host Renil Abraham.

The interview began with a simple promise: That the word ‘jhakaas’ wouldn’t be used even once! But everything else, as we found, was up for discussion, including Anil’s star children (Sonam and Harshvardhan Kapoor), ‘hair-raising’ tales and even that suggestive 'Maalgadi' song with Juhi Chawla!

Before we got to the really fun bits of the conversation, Anil told us a little about what season two of 24 has in store for viewers: “It picks up where season one left off,” Anil said. “Jai Singh Rathod had to save the prime minister, but his wife was in a coma and that was where we ended the season. In season two, the stakes are higher, the opposition is stronger, more lethal…”

Anil then proceeded to tell us about his stint on Family Guy and how it came about, and then submitted to our good-natured ribbing about his having done a suggestive song like 'Maalgadi' during his heyday.

The actor surprised us with what he had to say: “I was a snob in those days, even Juhi was! For us it was the first experience (of doing something like 'Maalgadi'),” Anil said, adding wryly, “There was a big, big showdown, and we said we’re not going to do this. Juhi almost started crying; but we’re actors, so we decided to go ahead with. We did it quite innocently actually.”

Anil also showed us just how good a sport he is when he laughed off all the memes that do the rounds of social media, with his body hair as the subject! “I’ve been called ‘baal kalakar’ etc,” he admitted, laughing aloud, before telling us how he had stripped off his shirt for the lovemaking scene with Dimple Kapadia in Jaanbaaz without feeling that anything was amiss with his hirsute state. He got called all kinds of funny names, including bhaalu etc. “I was so naïve and daft!” Anil told us, with his trademark guffaw.

From there it was time for some serious exchanging of views on the subject of Harsh and Sonam, who’ve followed his steps into filmdom. “I’m so proud of my children. I love that they love their work and are so passionate about it,” Anil told us. And when we quizzed the evergreen star about the one quality about himself that hasn’t changed over the years, he responded with a simple: “My love for my work”.

We were always fans of Mr Kapoor, but after this interview, we’ve become even more so!