As India debates whether Coldplay and Beyonce’s Hymn For The Weekend video constitutes cultural appropriation or cultural appreciation, Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor — who features in an brief clip in the same video — is oblivious to the drama.
She’s having a fangirl moment and loving every minute of it.
“First of all, I am in a Chris Martin video and I am a huge fan of Coldplay. When I was in high school, I grew up [listening to] Oasis, Coldplay and U2.
And if somebody told me at 16 that I was going to be in a video, I would go: ‘shut up’,” said Kapoor in an interview with Gulf News tabloid! on Sunday evening. She is in Dubai to promote her hijack drama, Neerja, releasing in the UAE on February 18, but she was happy to speak about the sweet deal that she has worked out with the popular band.
“So when Chris Martin’s agent told my agent that they really like [me] and they want [me] to do a cameo, my agent was like: ‘it’s just three shots’.
But I was like it’s [expletive] Coldplay, dude. I get VIP access to them forever,” said Kapoor.
In the video, dominated by Chris Martin in India punctuated by ash-smeared saints and holi-celebrating crowds and Beyonce as a Bollywood actress, the Prem Dhan Payo star is seen fleetingly as a traditional, jewellery-adorned Indian woman.
“So on my birthday, I get to take all my friends for a concert. I get VIP access to their concerts forever and I am going to make them sing Yellow to me. This is good. When I was in high school, I listened to Yellow from Coldplay and Wonderwall from Oasis and I used to cry and wondered if anyone would sing me these songs to me. And there I am, doing this video. Everybody is going on about these three shots alone,” said Kapoor.
She may be living out her dream, but her father, actor Anil Kapoor, also didn’t understand the gravity of what it meant to her.
“My dad went: ‘yeh, Coldplay kaun hai’ [who’s this Coldplay?] and I told him: ‘Imagine if someone from your time — be it the Bangles’ Walk Like An Egyptian or Michael Jackson — told you that they want you to be in their video … This is the 16-year-old Sonam going: [expletive] ya’,” said Kapoor.
Read the full interview in tabloid!.
