He can talk to you about Artificial Intelligence with the insight of a futurist and turn around the very next moment to reflect on spirituality with the heart of a seeker. He's made films on the Invisible Man and the Queen of England. He's explored the fragile emotions between a man, a woman and a child, and dared to ask uncomfortable questions through unforgettable cinema. I have the privilege of being in conversation with one of the most brilliant minds of our time, filmmaker, thinker, dreamer and part of My Wonder Years, the inimitable Shekhar Kapur. Over to the genius, the maverick, as I ask: What would you tell a younger Shekhar today? Take more risks than I did. Stay in wonder. Don't try to figure out tomorrow, just live today. Embrace the adventure of now. Don't fear it. We're taught to be afraid, our education and upbringing are rooted in fear. I became a chartered accountant. Why? I'd tell my younger self: don't even go there. Don't waste your time. Why did you find India constricting during your youth? There was no internet, just The Times Of India, no STD, no phone. Nothing. All the adventure felt like it was happening elsewhere. You were young, craving the world. To travel abroad, you had to go to the RBI, only once every two years, for just $20. You needed a terrifying "P-form." Say "P-form" today and I still get nightmares. That's how cut off we were. People say India is vast but at 15, 16, 17, you long to know the world. My first rebellion was sexual. I was a middle-class guy in London and I remember meeting Mick Jagger once. I told him, "You were part of my rebellion." He asked why. I said, "I was there when you sang I Can't get no satisfaction at Hyde Park." It was a free concert. That sense, that a different world existed, and I could be part of it, that was my rebellion. But rebellion needs something to push against. I pushed against my own imposed morality. I did everything deemed 'immoral', and yes, my hormones helped. So you were busy getting laid all over London when you were studying to be a chartered accountant. That was the first rebellion. The next was being told, "You must know what to do with your life." I rebelled against that very idea, the need for a job, a pension, a plan. I realised I had to discard one word drilled into every Indian: career. People say I left chartered accountancy to join films. No. I left accountancy to leave accountancy. That was the rebellion. Rejecting the idea of a fixed path. I threw myself into the unknown, with no clue what came next. While you were a chartered accountant, were you doing other things simultaneously? I got interested in films while studying accountancy in London, visiting the Institute of Contemporary Arts. They didn't show Bond films, they showed Iranian and European cinema. I've always been drawn to storytelling. My mother would say in Punjabi, "Tu kithon lih aanidiyan ae kahaniyan? (Where do you get these stories from?)" if I came home late. She knew I was lying. I knew she knew. But it became a playful ritual, me inventing stories, her letting me. Were you a problem child for your mother? Being the only son. As the only son, I was the rebel. Let me tell you a story. I was back in India, about to act in Ishk Ishk Ishk with Dev Anand. We were trekking in the Himalayas. Kabir Bedi led the group. There were 12 girls, one of whom I fell for. I wanted to see her that night. Everyone warned me aginst going out since it was freezing and dark. They said it was dangerous. I went anyway. Got lost. My clothes froze. I thought I'd die. But my fear wasn't for me. It was for my mother. People would say: Poor woman, her son left accountancy, chased a girl, died in the snow. Then the moon lit up Ama Dablam, mountain. I took it as a sign: You're not dying tonight. Keep walking. They disapproved of you leaving Chartered Accountancy? Of course. So many told my parents, "He's gone off, doing nothing, chasing girls." My mom held on to her pride: He finished Chartered Accountancy. That was huge back then. I was 24 when I finished and then I rebelled.I caused them pain. I tried explaining to my mom: You only see the struggle, I see hope. I had no work, walked in chappals, crashed on floors. I told her, "Hope drives me." We hope to wake up, fall in love, and do something meaningful. Even after the worst days, I'd sleep thinking, I still have hope. But how do you transfer that to someone else? You were the nephew of Dev Anand and Vijay Anand. Were you not afflicted by the filmy atmosphere? As a child, did you go to film premieres? I don't recall going to premieres but I do remember meeting Madhubala as a child. She held my hand, we even got photographed with Dev Anand. No idea where that photo is now. I was a cute kid, had long hair I refused to cut. In my co-ed boarding school, girls would chase me with ribbons, teasing, "Dev Anand's nephew!" That was the go-to taunt. I also remember seeing Dev saab in Delhi, mobbed by massive crowds. Moments like those