Tom Cruise poses with Shekhar Kapur in throwback pic; filmmaker jokes actor ‘collared’ him

Shekhar Kapur has shared a throwback picture of himself and Tom Cruise from the time the actor visited India in 2011. Posting the picture, Shekhar joked that Tom had collared him to question him about the delay in the making of his film Paani. Also Read| Shekhar Kapur to adapt Amish Tripathi’s Shiva trilogy into a web series

Shekhar took to his Twitter account on Sunday to share the picture, which showed him and Tom Cruise at a party in 2011. The party was organised by Anil Kapoor at Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai while Tom was in India to promote his film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. In the picture, Tom had a hand on Shekhar’s shoulder as both of them smiled. Shekhar joked in the caption, “When Tom Cruise collared me and asked me why I am not making Paani.”

In the comments section, fans also started questioning Shekhar about the delay in his ambitious project. One said, “I think it’s time sir to start the process, it can be pan India movie with cast from all industries. You are a great storyteller and visual artist, I wish to see your story come alive.” Another tweeted, “Sir make that movie…now you can do it at a grander scale.” A third one wrote, “Well now listen to him and make it.” Some other fans commented laughing emojis in reply to the tweet.

Shekhar’s shelved film Paani planned to tackle themes of climate crisis and tell the story of a future city where the wealthy take all the water and use it as a weapon of political and social control. Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput was revealed as its lead in 2013, but it hadn’t gone into production by the he died in June 2020. After Sushant’s death, Shekhar had said that he will dedicate the film to the late actor, if it ever sees the light of day. In his interviews, Shekhar had mentioned ‘logistical considerations’ and ‘expensive’ budget as the reason behind the delay in Paani.