Birthday Boy Shekhar Kapur Is Also A Poet To Reckon With

We are the stories that we tell ourselves, says the acclaimed filmmaker.

Shekhar Kapur gives us a taste of his poetry on Twitter. (Photo: Reuters)

A natural actor (Vishwaroopam, Mahanagar, Jan Hazir Hai, etc.), a great director (Masoom, Mr India, Bandit Queen, Elizabeth), quite an orator, and yes, a writer – Shekhar Kapur is one versatile talent that inspires you to be creative.

A person who has always followed his heart, Kapur has not been very active in the world of cinema lately. His last announced film Paani has been shelved for quiet some time. But he has been in touch with his audience through his blog and microblog on Twitter.

On his birthday (December 6), here’s a tribute to Shekhar Kapur, the poet. Listen to a sampling of his poetry from his Twitter timeline.

“We are the stories that we tell ourselves. Stories are the relationship that you develop between who you are, and who you potentially are, and the infinite world. And that’s mythology. A person without a story, does not exist,” he said once in a TED talk.

Einstein told a story, and for his stories he came up with theories, and then he came up with equations. Alexander had a story that his mother used to tell him and he went out to conquer the world... I would go further and say, I exist because I tell a story.

<b>From Shekhar Kapur’s TED Talk, fimed in November 2009</b>

You can see his twitter page flooded with several such direct-from-the-heart, small tales – stories that make him what he is. Here are some such hand picked tales, just for you.

We Are All Soulmates

I Don’t Want To Define You

But, Let Go Your Past

Say Yes, Not No

And This Guilt?

Let it Go...

And Let’s Dance

Did You Feel?

Grow Up! No, Thanks!

And An Important Life Lesson

So, never leave an emotion unexpressed. There is no harm in remaining a child, because children imagine, they trust and they express. Isn’t it what we want? To imagine, to trust, and to express?

And before we end, do listen to what a father has to tell his daughter about one of our greatest imaginations – God.

(This story is from The Quint’s archives and was first published on 12 January 2016.)