New Year, New ARK

Actor Aditya Roy Kapur's new year resolution for 2023 is to put his passion and talent-for music front and centre

- Urvee Modwel

For actor Aditya Roy Kapur, 37, the phrase 'new year new me', falls short. Because it may be the new year, but the things he has planned have been in the works since he was a child. His maternal grandparents, Sam and Ruby Aaron, were the first certified dance teachers and examiners in India from the Imperial Dance Masters' Association, UK, and the Federal Association of Teachers of Dancing, Australia, and are credited with introducing the Latin-American samba to India. His mother, Salome Roy Kapur, is a renowned dancer and a choreographer in musical theatre and films, and held many of her rehearsals at home, giving young Aditya and his older brothersproducer Siddharth Roy Kapur (whose movie, The Last Film Show is India's official entry to the Oscars) and actor Kunaal Roy Kapur, known for his comic timingan early introduction and education in music and dance.

"Growing up, the influences were a lot of old music, cos my mom and my nana would teach dance forms like the waltz, the foxtrot, the jive and Latin American dances like the rhumba, cha-cha and samba," he explains. However, that didn't mean that music and movies were something he always wanted to do. Quite the contrary.

"My elder brothers were stage actors and I was the kid who was always running away from this. I was more into sports; I never had any aspirations of becoming anything in the performing arts," Aditya lets on. Of course, the rest is history, with Aditya eventually becoming a Bollywood heartthrob and a household name.

This year, though, he's also resolved to release his own music album.

PURSUIT OF PASSION 

Most people know Aditya as an actor, but few know about his passion for music. "That actually started before acting," reveals Aditya. "It kind of started when I first started playing the guitar, in my ninth standard."