Bollywood superstar 'more alive' in Hollywood

TORONTO: Bollywood superstar Anil Kapoor "feels more alive" after starting fresh in Hollywood, he told Canada's public broadcaster Friday.

Best known in the West for his role as a gameshow host in Danny Boyle's 2009 Academy Award-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire," Kapoor has previously starred in more than 100 Bollywood films.

Slumdog's runaway success, however, led to roles for him in the final season of the hit US television series "24" and a casting with Tom Cruise in the upcoming "Mission Impossible 4."

Now he is working on a thriller with English actor Clive Owen.

Stepping into supporting roles "was a challenge," Kapoor told CBC Radio. "But I'm finding it exciting."

"Playing a leading man for so many years, for more than 30 years, you take things for granted and there is a tendency to stagnate," he confessed.

"Being a leading man, things move around you, everything is focused on you. Even if you do a few scenes badly it doesn't make a different. You're the star. Sometimes people just come to watch you, they're not listening to you."

But in Hollywood, "you're just an actor and you have to prove yourself," he said. "It's making me feel more alive." Kapoor has been nominated for best comedic actor for his role in "No Problem" at the 12th Indian International Film Awards on Saturday evening in Toronto.

Launched in 2000 at the Millennium Dome in London, the annual IIFA awards have been held in 11 cities around the world, including Colombo, Macau, Bangkok, Dubai, Amsterdam and Johannesburg.

The event is designed to celebrate the popular Hindi-language film industry and win new audiences abroad.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011