| Anil Kapoor | |
|---|---|
| |
| Birthdate: | December 24, 1959 |
| Birthplace: | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Role: | 1. Omar Hassan 2. Jai Singh Rathod |
Anil Kapoor (born December 24, 1959; age 64) is an Indian actor and producer who played Kamistani President Omar Hassan in Season 8 of 24 and Jai Singh Rathod in the Indian version of 24.
He is widely recognized in America for his first international role, in Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Prior to that he worked in over one-hundred Bollywood films and productions and became a very famous actor in India. Several of his major Indian roles include N. Chandra's Tezaab (1988); Indra Kumar's Beta (1992); Virasat (1997); Biwi No.1 (1999); Taal (1999); Pukar (2000); No Entry (2005); and Welcome (2007).
He runs his own film company, the Anil Kapoor Film Company, which in 2011 bought the rights to make an Indian adaptation of 24. Kapoor is to star as the Jack Bauer character. In a November 2012 interview for The Hollywood Reporter, Kapoor mentioned to the magazine that “[t]he Indian Jack Bauer is also constantly torn between the family and the country. He has an army background which we have maintained and the show will have an anti-terrorist cell like the original's CTU ... It will be very real and related to the Indian ethos. Most of the show will be shot on real locations in Mumbai, a city which has witnessed many incidents considering it is India's commercial capital. There will be scenes with hundreds of thousands of people ... this is going to be one of our big scale budgeted shows – as big as one of our non-fiction reality shows ... They have been very supportive and helping us. We will have some production crew coming in from LA for stunts and action. And even the Indian talent is of international calibre. Some of the show's original producers have come over and the idea is to have the same kind of work culture and value systems which I experienced during my stint on 24. This wouldn't have happened without the support of Howard Gordon and Marion Edwards.”
The showrunners for the Indian version of 24 (which will be in Hindi) also mentioned how it was the first scripted show in the country to have twenty-four episodes and that it would appeal to the masses in the small towns and interiors of India who have not seen the original as well as possibly drawing interest and comparisons from English speaking crowds.
