TLI Staff
New Delhi: Janhvi Kapoor, one of the most promising star kids we have in Bollywood today, has proved her acting mettle with Dhadak opposite Ishaan Khatter and has an interesting line-up of projects coming up including Netflix’s Ghost Stories and horror comedy Rooh Afza.
The actress in a candid chat with Neha Dhupika on her podcast No Filter Neha made some interesting revelations. Janhvi shared some lesser-known facts about her life and things that shaped her life and career.
On stealing fish
At JW Marriott, there was a pond and I don’t know why they have these plastic glasses that I’d sneak into near the pond and I’d steal like little baby fish and I’d take them home and I’d kill them. I wouldn’t willingly kill them, it’s just that I’d keep them carefully with a lot of love but they would just not make it. No, they were babies but I have never gotten over that phase of my life. It’s so wrong.
When Janhvi got a butt X-ray done
I have said this story more than I should on National Television. I was dancing around in my room and my sister or someone had just sharpened a bunch of pencils and kept around a pencil holder. My finale step was that I’d sit on the bed. I sat on the pencil and I got up and it was sticking out of my butt cheek and I was running around the house and mom was running around behind me trying to yank it out. I mean I had to go for a butt X-ray. And, I remember this so clearly, I walked passed the X-ray room and all of these men were just sitting and staring at a blown-up image of my ass.
When Janhvi said ‘I Love You’ to Rajkumar Rao on social media
He wouldn’t even reply or message me. Because I think he read in an interview that I said this, I think one of your interviews only and then he was like ‘Thank you so much for your kind words’ and I was like these are not kind words. These are like stalker-ish obsessives.
Janhvi’s relationship status with her all-time crush Vijay Devarkonda
The status is non-existent, unfortunately. I feel like I have put out a lot of feelers but there is no response. No, but I am kidding. It’s just admiration. I am comfortable with the admiration which I guess is one-side. It’s only on interviews and public platforms and on NoFilterNeha shows. You know my phases are actually very seasonal. He’s been quite consistent though. Like my fondness has been quite consistent. No, but there have been a couple of phases after.
The most adventurous thing that Janhvi ever did?
I went on a trip with my friends spontaneously, because I have never gone to a shooting range before and I think there was one in Vegas and my friends had been to and I was supposed to come to Bombay in two days and I told mom and dad that I am going to go and watch a film but instead I took a flight to Vegas with my friends and I stayed up all night and went to the shooting range, I shot, I walked around.
In this trip, everything was shut and we were just walking around and clicking pictures at random places and I took the morning flight back to Vegas and I made it in time for my flight back to Bombay and they thought I’d just gone for a film and gone to sleep.
When Arjun said he doesn’t want anyone buzzing around Janhvi
I don’t think he said he doesn’t want anyone buzzing around me. I think he noticed that someone was just around me a lot. Ishaan was around me a lot and I was around Ishaan a lot but we were promoting Dhadak, we had no one else to be around. I think he was with me through a phase in life that I think no one else could understand except him, with like the movie coming out and I think he was just there a lot. So we were just buzzing around each other, I guess.
Janhvi on Arjun as a brother
You know he is protective but I think he is very liberal and he is very chilled out. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to spend as much time with him as like say Anshula didi because he’s always been working. And when he’s here, I’m gone but I don’t know how or why, but I feel that I don’t know how to explain it. But, I know he is there for me and he is looking over and out for me.
The one thing Janhvi aspires to take from her mother
I think mom understood really well the art of conserving energy. She didn’t speak too much, she didn’t faff around too much I guess, but I feel like she just conserved all of it, I think and just erupted in front of the camera. I think I’m like quite everywhere.
A couple of people that I have worked with recently, someone I worked with RoohAfza actually told me that I am like her in the way that I am quite different off camera and then on camera. I have realized that just works for me better, than thinking, thinking, thinking.
Janhvi on turning religious after mom Sridevi’s demise
I think that’s more me than anyone else in my family. And, I think that happened to me after mom. I just remember very organically and automatically feeling like, oh, it’s your birthday, what do you want to do? I don’t know Papa, I want to go to Tirupati or I want to go to Banaras. I want to see the Ganga Aarti.
It’s New Years, I wanna climb up. And after the first time I went, I remember seeing the idol, they take you into this room and I just remember crying so much and it felt so good. And I know every time I climb up it’s about a 3700 step climb, it’s like meditation and I promise you, Neha, if I go two months without going up to Tirupati, I start missing it. I start feeling like I need to go back.
When Janhvi took a mannat of going veg for Pankaj Tripathi
I am a huge, huge Pankaj Tripathi fan. As soon as I read the script, I as like he needs to be my father in this film. He needs to be Anup Saxena. And, I think he was their original choice as well but then they had a few another ideas. But, then I was like no, he needs to be my father and then they finally met and he too the script and he’s like I’ll get back to you in a couple of days and I was in London, I think.
I was like you know what, I need to make this happen, but I can’t irritate him about it. And what else can we do, I’m waiting so I just pray and take a mannat and I’ll go veg till he says yes. And eventually, in 4-5 days he said yes. And I met him on a flight going to Goa and I was like Pankaj ji aapko maalum hai maine aapke mannat liya tha and he’s like hain? Taki aap humare film ke liye haan bol de and he’s like Aree waah kya baat hai beti
Janhvi gets a tikka on each and every script of hers
I go to Sidhavinayak every Tuesday whenever I’m in town and I take my script with me, whichever one I am shooting, sometimes two at a time and when you do the darshan I hand over the Pandit the script and they put a tikka.