ANSHULA KAPOOR, daughter of filmmaker Boney Kapoor and founder of Fankind, talks to G20 about her family, education and need for compassion in society.
Q. Your storybook has been unique and unusual. Share with us a little background.
A. I have been fortunate to receive the love of people because of my brother Arjun’s fans have always been welcoming to me. For the longest time I have been wanting to return this love in some way. That’s how ‘Fankind’ was born. It was to give back to the society by helping raise money for NGOs indulged in public welfare. I was also working on another venture that had a charity component attached to it. For me, a huge part of it was because of my mother who encouraged us to share happiness, love and money. ‘Fankind’ is for the fans who give us nothing but love and kindness.
Q. What has been your educational qualifications and career points to date?
A. I was fortunate enough to go to college in New York for my Bachelor’s degree from Barnard College of Columbia University. Thereafter, my first job post-college was with Google in Gurgaon. I remember giving multiple tests and interviews for that and before the job could officially begin, we were trained in Hyderabad for a few weeks. Post-Google, I worked for a start-up in Mumbai called HRX.
Q. How come you never wanted to enter the acting arena?
A. I’ve always been camera shy and having done a little bit of theatre in high school, I knew that acting isn’t for me. So, I wanted to explore what I thought would bring me joy. It took me a while, but I stumbled upon Fankind!
Q. Which celebrities have come to your support?
A. In the six campaigns so far, we have covered a variety of causes supported by NGOs from across the country. Varun Dhawan helped raise funds for Manavlok to help farmers in Maharashtra; Alia Bhatt helped raise funds for an animal shelter in Mumbai via World For All foundation; YouTube star Prajakta Koli helped raise funds for The Banyan’s daycare recovery centre in Tamil Nadu that looks after 180 patients facing mental health issues; Sonakshi Sinha raised funds for the Little Hearts programme of Being Human to treat children born with congenital heart defects in Tamil Nadu; Karan Johar is raising funds for Action Aid Association which works across the country to help educate children; Ananya Panday is raising funds to empower and support acid attack survivors across the country via Hothur Foundation.