An unlikely Anshula Kapoor

Boney Kapoor's daughter, Anshula Kapoor, on merging charity and fandom with her startup, and why she's better off leading a quasi-celeb life

She hails from a family that has rarely shied away from the camera, but Anshula Kapoor, daughter of Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor, is the black sheep in the clan. Her only request when we meet on a damp evening in Andheri is that we drop the photo shoot. The statement is more beseeching than arrogant. "I'm usually the one hiding my face and ducking the paps when out with my family," she says. The moment the camera is shuttered, the defenses drop.

The 28-year-old has found a way to work around this quasi-celebrity life. Her new venture, Fankind that launched last week, has her operating behind the scenes, playing facilitator between fans and actors. The online fundraising platform allows the aam admi a chance to experience fun activities like playing paintball, baking and playing cricket with their favourite celebrity. Seventy per cent of the amount is funnelled into a charitable cause that the celebrity supports. Presently, actors Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt are on board. While Dhawan's campaign is in collaboration with Manavlok, a non-profit that supports Maharashtra's farmers, the moolah raised through Bhatt will be used for the cause of animals through Mumbai-based NGO, World For All. "First, you're supposed to pick an experience with a celebrity. Then, donate for a chance to win the experience. For every R300 that the user transacts, the fan has a chance of meeting the celebrity. The selection is done purely through a third party randomiser. Even I'm not involved in that," she says. This is followed up with a screening process and background checks to preempt stalkers from coming on board.

In the last one year, Kapoor has lived the struggler's life; relentlessly chasing celebrities for appointments, waiting in hotel lobbies, making presentations, facing rejection even. It was all part of the challenge that comes with the launch a startup on a shoestring budget.

Before setting out on her own, Kapoor ensured she had an impressive resume to back up her venture.

In 2012, the Barnad College graduate worked for Habitat for Humanity International for a project in Cluj, Romania, where she rehabilitated a local family by helping build their first home. On her return, she bagged a job with Google as a representative for AdWords. "I truly lucked out with that," she laughs. "It was an important role because I was working with their advertising arm which helps a brand make money. I had to be on the ball." Later, she joined Hrithik Roshan's sports brand, HRX, as an Operations Manager overseeing the organisational process. Like most entrepreneurs, it was the need to be your own boss that propelled her to float her own venture. "Last year, I took some time out, began networking and sought opinions, because I wasn't confident about the concept back then."

Anshula Kapoor with brother Arjun and step-sister Janhvi Kapoor at a movie screening. Pic/Yogen Shah

The startup is a product of the adulation that her family—including her—has received over the years. It's not uncommon for her to get cakes, poems and cards on her birthday from fan clubs dedicated to brother Arjun. "I just felt they needed to get something in return for all that love. The idea of 'giving' was something that my mother inculcated in us from when we were children." Mona Shourie Kapoor, Boney Kapoor's first wife, succumbed to cancer in 2012, days before the release of Arjun's debut Ishaqzaade. The vacuum has been filled by Arjun, says Kapoor. "He is more of a paternal figure than a bro. Sometimes I'm mothering him, sometimes he is." At their home, their rooms are adjacent to each other, which means they can barge in whenever they feel like. While they discuss everything under the sun, each other's dating life is not one of them. But there has been no escaping the newsprint dedicated to Arjun and Malaika Arora's rumoured relationship. "He's six years older to me. We don't really discuss these things. It's awkward," she shrugs. With her step sisters, Janhvi and Khushi, she insists, 'they're in each other's life constantly'. "If you ask me, it's like any other sibling relationship. We go for movies, dinners and hang at each other's houses. And if we're busy, then we just text." What binds the family together is their collective love for sweets. "The rest of them hide it, I don't."

Curiously enough, Arjun is not part of the venture yet. Before pitching the idea to anybody else, she had bounced it off him but it was mutually decided that he stay out of it for now. "Before I approached my father, I wanted to have a solid plan in place because I didn't want him to think it's something frivolous."

He, after all, can be brutally honest with his opinion. "He can be a**l about something as small as a picture that we upload on Instagram. When we share it on our family WhatsApp group, he will comment on why the curtain in the background is not in place. He wants it to be perfect. He is more straightforward than Arjun bhaiyya. We, as a family, have no filter," she laughs.

For now, Arjun has been backing her up with all the support she needs. In fact, our interview is peppered with missed calls from him. "It's about a technical detail that needs to be fixed," she says, rushing out to take charge.

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