Actor Kunal Kapoor on Friday said that the 1982 film "Vijeta", in which he starred with his father, veteran actor Shashi Kapoor, is a "very relevant film" in a time when the chest-pounding nationalism dominates patriotic movies.
Kunal, 59, was speaking at a Q&A session after the screening of the Govind Nihalani-directed film, which was screened under the "Homages" segment remembering Shashi Kapoor at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
"Personally, I couldn't agree with you more. It was a strange thing... I grew up in Bombay, now Mumbai, a cosmopolitan city. I grew up as a non-Maharashtrian in Bombay. There's so much mixture.
"It was the shooting of 'Vijeta' in 1980 that I heard the word 'Hindutva' for the first time. And I began to understand what it was actually about. I think by then we had already seen a certain movement happening. But I think the movie is very relevant," Kunal said while responding to a question posed by PTI regarding the relevance of the film in an age where nationalism has become a chest-beating exercise in popular cinema.
The actor also said it was the first time that Vijeta is being screened on the big screen after its restoration.
Produced by Shashi Kapoor, the film is a coming-of-age story, which touches upon themes of Partition, patriotism, secularism and war.
The film also featured Rekha, Dina Pathak, Amrish Puri, Om Puri, Shafi Inamdar and Supriya Pathak Kapur.