EXCLUSIVE | 'Housefull 5' director Tarun Mansukhani reveals why Alia Bhatt was missing in Netflix's 'Dining With The Kapoors': 'We were really hoping she could be there but...'

The Kapoors are the first film family of Hindi cinema. Their passion and enthusiasm for films and food is known to all the movie aficionados. To bring many of them under the same roof and in the same frame is an idea that sounds ambitious. And Dining With The Kapoors happens to be right in front of us on Netflix.

The creative producer of the special, filmmaker Tarun Mansukhani, in an exclusive interview with Firstpost, opened up about the idea of bringing the family together, why Alia Bhatt was missing from the grand reunion, and why his film Dostana 2 didn’t happen.

Edited excerpts from the interview

Where did the idea of Dining With The Kapoors come from?

The idea and credit for all of it I think goes to Armaan Jain. He is the one who is the creator, the show runner, the producer, actor and most importantly the chef in this show, film. I remember about four years ago Armaan and I met at one particular place and we were just generally chatting and he kept telling me that he had this idea. And he wanted to make something that involved his family and food. And there was lots of brainstorming for a long while and finally he narrowed down on this one thought of whatever he brought all of them together and gave you all a nice sneak peek inside what a Kapoor family lunch is like.

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And my only thought was best of luck bringing them all together, telling them there’s a camera rolling and feeding them at the same time. And of course managing all their dates. But somehow Armaan managed all of it. He put everything together, got Netflix on board and here we are.

How was it like bringing the entire family together?

I think it was amazing because, of course, this family does get together very often and as often as they want. Whenever they have occasions, whether it’s Christmas, it’s Diwali or it’s just Sunday. But it was so amazing to bring them all together because Armaan wanted to make an insider look into this family. And they all just readily agreed and came together. And it was so good to just see this family sitting at a table together and eating.

Did you miss Alia but being a part of the family madness?

Absolutely. We were really hoping that she could be there and we really tried to organize and figure out the dates but unfortunately she was shooting something and just couldn’t make it.

Who was the most delightful Kapoor of them all and why?

I think the most delightful of the lot for me is always going to be Reema Ji, Reema Jain and Dabu Uncle ( Randhir Kapoor). The two of them are just amazing. They are literally what we would call insanely funny and just cracking jokes at each other. Dabu Uncle loves bullying her also. So it’s great fun to see them together.

If you could remake one film with all the Kapoors, what would it be.

Oh, tough one. But I think if there was one film I could remake with all of them, a khandaan like that, I think it would have to be Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Because Poo’s (Kareena) already there. We don’t need to cast her. And we’d figure out roles for the others as well.

Out of all the members, which was the Kapoor you first met in your career.

I think the first I met being an assistant director on Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was Kareena. However, my mother and Babita aunty have known each other in their younger days. Not that there was a family connection like that, but they were just friends who had worked in one particular place together. And out of a professional side, yes, it was Kareena who I met first.

Abhishek Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, John Abraham were supposed to be together in Dostana 2. Why didn’t the idea take shape?

I don’t know, I just believe that films have a soul of their own and they demand whether they should be made or not, you can try all you want and yet at the end of the day, it just doesn’t happen and I think that’s what happened. There was always a part of me that felt the story of Sam and Kunal finishes at that point with Neha to continue it after that; I don’t know what felt like a stretch possibly and due to which I think the film felt it too and realized it didn’t want to be made by me.