Last week, actor-director Farhan Akhtar was left thoroughly embarrassed, as he became a victim of mistaken identity. The story goes that an Italian media group, while interviewing Farhan for a documentary on Bollywood, mistakenly kept referring to him as Raj Kapoor.
The confusion began early. Like many international networks, the Italian channel’s crew set out to travel with a specific list of people to meet— with Farhan’s name headlining it, who they’ve had, thanks to Zindagi Na Milege Dobara. However, the Italian crew was a stranger to English and Farhan stuck to an interpreter to help conduct the interview.
Throughout the talk, the crew referred to Farhan as Raj Kapoor. However, when the interpreter asked him the question there would be no reference to the late filmmaker-actor. Farhan was initially confused and later embarrassed. Not wanting to disturb the flow of the interview, Farhan reveals that he kept his cool till the cameras stopped rolling.
Upon asking the interpreter for the constant ring of Raj Kapoor during the interview, Farhan was told that the international network was constantly giving examples of late filmmaker-actor Raj Kapoor to ask certain questions to Farhan. Upon further gruelling, Farhan figured that the crew had no idea whether Raj Kapoor was more famous as actor or director.
Upon asking the interpreter for the constant ring of Raj Kapoor during the interview, Farhan was told that the international network was constantly giving examples of late filmmaker-actor Raj Kapoor to ask certain questions to Farhan. Upon further gruelling, Farhan figured that the crew had no idea whether Raj Kapoor was more famous as actor or director.
Farhan says, “It’s too embarrassing to speak about.” But his official spokesperson, who was present during the interview, chips in,“We all kept wondering how they were referring to Raj Kapoor constantly. Finally, we understood the reference only once they explained it.”