India's least controversial actor Anil Kapoor is thrilled at his fan following in Birmingham

Shyam Bhatia in London

Fresh from his encounters with autograph hunters in Birmingham, UK, versatile film actor Anil Kapoor says he has been thrilled by the number of fans who flew in from far away Africa, California and Holland just to meet him and shake his hand.

The 43-year-old Kapoor who attracted favourable reviews for his performance in Subhash Ghai's Taal was visiting the UK's second biggest city to promote Mela 2002, a South Asian extravaganza billed as the largest ethnic celebration of its kind anywhere in Europe.

Seemingly unaffected by the relentless aroma of kebabs and samosas, Kapoor waited patiently as queues of 400 fans at a time lined up to see him and grab his autograph.

"I performed in Birmingham five years ago at a live show. At that time I didn't have the opportunity to interact with so many people", Kapoor says.

"This time, it was a very emotional and very overwhelming experience. People came from Holland, California, Africa who came specially to meet me. I wasn't doing a live show, I was just interacting with them.

"The goras who came were because of the upsurge of interest in everything that is Indian. They were there for everything. For the desis, it was different, they wanted to meet me, to see me.

"I'm not the only person responsible for this kind of turnout; it was the overall concept. It was like a team work and of course people came to see the mela."

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Kapoor says he is aware of his reputation as India's least controversial actor and says it is an "unfortunate" description because of its connotations of being boring.

He describes his last major success, Taal, as something of a crossover film because it appealed to both Indian and foreign audiences. "The basic theme was music and there were a lot of goras who liked that film. That is what excited so many people. As far as the Indian audiences were concerned, it was the overall performances. It was successful all over Europe, including France and Italy. Two of Taal's numbers, composed by A R Rahman, are also in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams."

His forthcoming films include Rishtey, due to be released in December, where Kapoor teams up after a ten-year gap with director Inder Kumar under whom he worked in the hit film Beta.

Kapoor describes Rishtey as a hardcore Hindi commercial formula film, which will be followed by an 'emotional thriller', Calcutta Mail.

Kapoor's big surprise for next year is a medical drama called Armaan, where he plays a neurosurgeon and stars alongside Amitabh Bachan, Gracie Singh and Preity Zinta.

Armaan is a first time effort for director Honey Irani, the ex wife of poet-lyricist Javid Akhtar. "It is the first time I have worked with a woman director," Kapoor reveals, adding, "Having Honey as a director has been absolutely brilliant. She is brilliant in everything."

Kapoor also discloses that despite some physical similarities, he is not related by blood to the Raj Kapoor dynasty, although the two families have always been very close. He says, "You could say I am as close to them as any close relative can be.

"My father and grandfather are from Peshawar and they used to stay in the same lane as Raj Kapoor's family. That is how they came together. My grandfather, father and Raj Kapoor all came to India together from Pakistan.

"I always look up to them and don't think I will be able to reach upto them, ever."