4 min readNew DelhiAug 9, 2026 05:30 PM IST
Sanjay Kapoor is perhaps the only member of the Kapoor family whose career never reached the heights of his actor brother Anil Kapoor or producer brother Boney Kapoor. While his 1999 film Sirf Tum emerged as a major success, the actor claims that the film did not translate into the kind of opportunities one would expect from a hit. According to him, no producer approached him with a film offer immediately after its success. Although Sanjay went on to appear in several films, none established him as a consistently bankable leading star. Looking back at his career, the actor now believes the industry has changed significantly. He feels that actors who deliver a few hits today can secure lucrative opportunities for years, something he says was not the case during his time. In his career as a leading actor, Raja and Sirf Tum ultimately remained Sanjay Kapoor’s two major box-office successes.
Speaking to Digital Commentary, Sanjay said, “Sirf Tum was such a huge hit that today, even after 27 years, we are talking about it. But look at my destiny, I didn’t sign a single film after Sirf Tum. Today, if people give three hits, their career is set for 25 years. They bag several ads. They start earning in crores just after one big hit.”
Expressing his disbelief over the lack of offers following Sirf Tum’s success, the actor added, “People praised that film so much, but I don’t know what went wrong that nobody ever approached me after that. Nobody signed me. I didn’t receive any good offers. I won’t lie that I was loaded with projects and I declined. I had limited offers, but they were not very great. I thought, I have given a hit, let me wait for something better. It is difficult to give a hit, be it now or then.”
Sanjay Kapoor also addressed the perception that his films were often associated with failure. “People easily take my name when a film flops, but when a film did great, people didn’t give me any credit. It was a huge hit, but didn’t do so well in Mumbai. In one of the Bombay theatres, it ran for 100 days.”
He believes Sirf Tum was more than just a film powered by popular music. “Apart from having superhit songs, the script of Sirf Tum was unbelievable. It is the only romantic picture where the hero and heroine don’t meet each other, but when they finally do, the film ends at their hug.”
Sanjay Kapoor’s career had begun on a difficult note. His debut film, Prem (1995), took eight years to complete and eventually failed at the box office. The failure reportedly left the industry apprehensive about his next project, Raja, which was directed by Indra Kumar and was scheduled to release soon after Prem.
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Recalling the period, Indra, who had already delivered two successful films before Raja, told Siddharth Kannan, “After giving two successful films, I reshot Raja. When I watched the original film, I quite didn’t understand certain scenes. I realised my mistake, so I rewrote the script and shot it again. That picture too went on to become a super hit.”
However, the director admitted that the pressure surrounding the film was immense.
“Just three weeks before the release of Raja, another film of Sanjay Kapoor with Tabu (Prem) had released. But it flopped. People started making fun of me. Even I lost hope. In my mind, I thought, ‘Indra Kumar, consider this your last film. After this, let’s go to Haridwar.’”
Explaining his fears, Indra added, “Now my hero was Sanjay Kapoor, whose previous film flopped, so everybody was talking about him. It could have had a bad impact on my film. I lost hope. But, thanks to my stars, and Madhuri Dixit, and Saroj Khan, and my writers, they all saved this film for me.”
