Something good is happening in the sports and sporting arena in India — if we have been able to beat the Chinese in China in a sport like table tennis or captured the Olympic and world championship in javelin throw, or wrestlers and boxers are coming in the medal reckoning in global events, and athletes starting to pip the rest in a few events. Those scripting these golden moments are surely the athletes, the face of the desirable change, but let us spare a moment for the passionate sportspersons, aged but still active in sport after sport as mentors and coaches ripen with age.
This is more so true in the arguably fastest ball sport — table tennis — where two ladies from West Bengal put it past the Chinese world champion pair in women’s double in the just concluded Asian Games. A development that warmed the hearts of every TT lover in the country, and more so players like Kapil Kumar who was once an active national-level player and is still around the domestic and foreign TT circuit in the master’s category, and more importantly winning medals and trophies even today.
Kapil is many things other than being a TT player — a lawyer, an actor, scriptwriter, producer, and director of television serials. But at heart, he continues to remain the teen with hunger and passion for the sport that caught his fancy when he was a little boy. This year alone, he has won medals at four international TT Masters tournaments in different countries.
For sure, the passion for the sport lives on and he plays on the part of his life, as a TT player, in real life as he coaches and plays mentor to many budding players. Among this protegees is Sanil Shetty, who played for India, and many other state-level players from Maharashtra, the state he has made his home now. Kapil has been signed on by the leading TT equipment brand Stag as their sponsored player and coach.
Paddler To Lawyer To Actor
Having come to Mumbai some four decades ago, after the acting bug hit him hard enough to quit a well-paying and much sought-after job with a prestigious law firm — Khaitan and Company — to launch his struggle in Mumbai’s Bollywood. He bagged a role in the biggest of all television epics on Doordarshan — Mahabharat — and became part of the ensemble cast of the serial that had the entire nation’s attention rivetted on it. Several other hit serials followed, and naturally entry onto the big screen, for which he came to Mumbai, too happened.
Kapil has shared screen with the Bollywood biggies such as Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor and the likes, and today has interesting roles in big budget films on the floors. Among them are Fighter, in which he stars alongside Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, IBN71 with Vidhyut Jamwal that was directed by National Award winning filmmaker Sanket Reddy, Sidharth Malhotra-starrer Shershah by Karan Johar, and Amitabh Bachchan's Paa, which also starred Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan.
On OTT, Kapil was part of Jaanbaaz, Night Hawks and was also a key member of hit TV serials like Nagin, Choti Sardarni, Suhani si ek ladki, Gum Hain kisi ke pyar mein, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata hain and many more.
"My professional life as a creative person is, happily, very tight. But I manage to take out time for table tennis and this part of me is what gives me the happiness, drive, and energy to carry on with every aspect of life,” Kapil said during a candid chat. “It takes a lot of planning and coordination to squeeze out time for the TT practice and tournaments, but I am game for it.”
And perhaps he does it because of his keenness to compete even today.
Just like in his playing days, when in Delhi University doing graduation and later PG in Law, he maintains his competitive streak even today in national and international tournaments and masters’ TT championships across the globe. In this year’s World Veterans TT Championship at Muscat, Oman, Kapil won a Consolation Prize in Mixed Doubles along with Geeta Tandon.
"I am also playing much better today than when I was actually an active and aggressive TT player in the Hindu College, and Delhi university,” Kapil said in an exclusive chat as the discussion veered around the recent phenomenon of an explosion of sorts of Indian sportspersons in a variety of sports disciplines.
India today has the world and Olympic champion in javelin throw, its shuttler PV Sindhu missed the Olympic gold by a whisker, boxers dominating in the ring, and wrestlers winning Olympic medals. "Perhaps, the confidence has grown in us that we can win and we can be the world beaters," reasoned Kapil as he went gaga over the victory of the two young players from Bengal who beat the Chinese world top pair in the quarterfinals at the Asian Games – and in the process won the Bronze medal for the first time in women’s doubles tournament at the games.
Though he is someone from the showbiz industry, dabbling in theatre, tv and films, Kapil says he a shy person and prefers to stay away from the cameras for publicity. When free, he can be seen curled up with a book, and or practising TT. He also coaches the youngsters who reach him. “Yes, sometimes the children of fellow actors do approach me, and I gladly teach anyone who is interested,” Kapil said, without naming the actors. "Yes, am keen to teach youngers the art and craft of the game."
A proper well designed and equipped TT academy is also what Kapil has in mind, and it is a work in progress. He hopes his association with the global major TT equipment company will help him propel his passion for the game and spread it deeper and wider. Kapil has also been signed as the face of a TT league starting in India from January on the lines of the IPL.
The author is a Bengaluru-based senior journalist.
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