“French fries for dinner!” I almost shake my head in disbelief when the fit and famous Vaani Kapoor tells me about her favourite indulgence. It’s always the fitness enthusiasts who have the most unexpected meal choices for their cheat days, isn’t it? I brace myself for some more curveballs throughout the interview as the actor effortlessly transforms into a Barbie bride with the dreamiest pink-clad bridal wardrobe assembled by Khush’s Fashion Editor Vikas Rattu. I observe a sense of reservation in Vaani’s voice when interacting with the team that makes me wonder if she is shy or simply well-trained for days on set. Positively leading with the latter, I break the ice by asking about her experience working with my favourite actor Hrithik Roshan for the movie ‘War’. She immediately jumps to share, “He's my favourite too. I love the person that he is. I feel like he's one of those people who you wish existed more in number because I think he's become more of a rarity. I remember this scene in the movie where we’re sitting on the bench, and he discloses his motives for befriending me. Right at the end of the conversation, I get up from the bench and I go a little away and I wipe off a tear. And I wiped it off like a child, almost with all my fingers on my cheek and my director Sid was like ‘Vaani just use one finger’. And I just couldn't do that as it felt so unnatural and fake. Hrithik stepped in and said, ‘She's giving a phenomenal scene, and one doesn't have to be stuck on her finger and how many fingers’.”
Comedy And Drama
The ‘Khel Khel Mein’ actor nonchalantly asks, “Did you like the movie?”, referring to her latest comedy with Akshay Kumar. As a fan of easy-watch comedies-lover myself, I candidly raised my brows and nodded in agreement while taking a sip of my drink. “How was your experience working on the film,” I followed up. Vaani responded, “It was great fun. Our director Mudassar's previous film was also on similar lines. This was a remake of ‘Perfect Strangers’, although it's very different in terms of the treatment by far. I am not sure how many remakes have been made on the same film. But this was unique with Akshay Kumar. He's a lot of fun. He’s great at comedy. I personally think he's the best in comedy when it comes to our industry as a leading male actor. All seven of us got together and we shared a really good rapport. Everyone was warm and happy and it was just fun to be in each other's company. So, not only did it go very, very smoothly but it just felt more organic and the chemistry was flowing amongst all of us.”
The actor is now taking a breath from filming her end-of-year release ‘Raid 2’ and two other releases. One of the projects, which is currently untitled, she will potentially be seen starring alongside Fawad Khan. Taking us back to her memorable performances, particularly Naina Verma in ‘War’ and Shyra in ‘Befikre,’ she keenly expresses her open-mindedness when choosing new roles. “As an actor, I'm open to all genres because I want to be able to experiment and try my luck at everything. The funny thing is ‘Khel Khel Mein’ is a comedy film, but I barely got to do any comedy in it. My part was written as one of the serious ones, like the girl who is mean. I remember thinking, ‘I miss having punchlines and I miss having comedy’ to do in a comic film. They said you have to balance the comedy of other characters with a little bit of contrast. Everyone putting on the buffoonery doesn’t work, so I haven’t got my chance to do comedy yet. But I am hoping that with ‘Badtameej Gill’, this will change. Growing up, I watched Jim Carrey all the time. And I love Johnny Lever and enacting his scenes. I was a buffoon for my family,” shares Vaani surprising us all on set.
On Wellbeing and Self-Care
While Vaani gets her makeup done, I notice how she constantly keeps herself hydrated. I wonder if there’s more to her supple, camera-ready skin than what meets the eye. When asked about the secret to her natural glow, the actor responds with certainty, “My mom makes really nice home remedies. She has the best cream that she makes at home. I say to her, you should start selling them or just giving this magic away. She keeps gifting it to my friends, my cousins and everybody uses it. So, she has some of these really lovely homemade remedies that we use as masks and creams, which really helped me in my teenage years when all sorts of acne broke out. I used to have it all over my forehead. And she would keep rubbing and scrubbing pineapple because it has good enzymes. Just to purify every month, she would put us on this rigorous neem juice ritual, where at least three days consecutively in a month we had to had to drink neem juice. So, little things like that have really helped overall to just kind of flush out the toxins. I feel Ayurvedic and home remedies work great. And of course, you have to go for your face clean-ups and you have to get hydrations done and I do like to do lymphatic drainage for my face. But just eating right, eating healthy and keeping your insides clean is the secret.”
As Vaani effortlessly slips into her next pretty-in-pink look, I cannot help but enquire about what kind of fitness regime she follows when preparing for her roles. “I have tried everything. I'll be honest with you, I've tried CrossFit training, Pilates, yoga, weight training… and for me, weight training works the best. I am very particular about working out but it's not something that I enjoy. I really have to mentally coax myself into getting up and bringing myself to the gym every day. I do understand the importance of fitness. I've always said that it’s also for the fitness of your mind, it helps you unwind and makes you more focused. It's also a discipline that contributes to an active lifestyle that we are part of (as actors). We work so many hours and obviously need to look good for the camera. It’s also more so because of the roles that have come my way, they have demanded a particular amount of fitness level. And then sometimes, we’re shooting 15 hours a day, we’re traveling five hours, and have only four or five hours to sleep. Considering the given hours, you come cranky and tired and you don't get proper food because you have to compromise on set. So, it's a very hectic lifestyle. It doesn't feel all that glamorous when you're in it.”
As we look forward to the actor’s upcoming big screen releases, Kapoor bids adieu with a word of advice. “Just be grateful because you've got a lot that others didn't and value what you have in your hand today.”
Wardrobe: Varun Chakkilam
Jewellery: Omara Fine Jewellery
Editor-in-chief: Sonia Ullah
Photographer: Ollie Ali
Creative Director: Manni Sahota
Fashion Editor: Vikas Rattu
Junior Fashion Editor: Tanishq Malhotra
Styling: Vikas Rattu & Tanishq Malhotra
Styling Assistant: Khushi Agarwal Makeup: Makeup: Pooja Rohir
Hair: Hair: Gabriel Georgiou
Videography: Gagandeep Dhaliwal
Location: Home House, London Photography Assistants: Patricia Benitz & Ruth Elopuro
Veils: Sophie Raval and Rebecca Anne Designs
Gloves: Cornelia James