25 years of Virasat: Anil Kapoor dedicates anniversary to producers Mushir-Riaz

While Anil Kapoor has been in the film industry for over four decades, he continues to excel at every role and there has been no dip in the actor’s popularity. That’s also got to do with the fact that he has been a part of some iconic films and played some brilliant characters in his career.

One such film was Virasat (1997), for which Kapoor even won a National award.

Today marks the 25^th anniversary of the release of this Priyadarshan film which saw such a curve in Kapoor’s character that it remains one of his finest to date.

Pooja Batra: Couldn't have asked for a better debut than Virasat

The film, which also starred Tabu, Amrish Puri and Pooja Batra, was produced by Mushir Riaz and Kapoor took to Instagram to dedicate the 25^th anniversary to him.

He wrote, “Dedicating the 25th year of my personal favourite film Virasat to one of the best producers I have ever worked with! Mushir-Riaz.”

While Kapoor's character arc was quite stunning, the actor made sure he looked drastically different in the film’s first and second halves. Speaking to trade magazine Super Cinema about the film a while ago, the actor had said, “In Virasat, I had [to have] longer hair so I had used extensions. In those days, nobody used extensions the way actresses use now. Of course, I had also grown my hair so that the extensions look real in the first half. In the film’s second half, I shaved my beard and had a big moustache.”

Both his looks from Virasat won fans over.

Kapoor also said he had always worked hard from the beginning to make his characters look different. “I just love looking different and trying to look as different as possible," he told the magazine. "In today’s day and age, all the actors do that but it gives me immense joy personally. In fact, sometimes, I used to look so different that it would upset people.

“For example, I removed my moustache for Lamhe (1991) and my fans were upset. But I love to do that. Of course, you end up doing fewer films because of that because you can only do one film at a time with that look. But I’ll be cheating on that director or that film if I look the same.”

Another reason why Virasat is remembered today is the film's soulful music, scored by Anu Malik, with evergreen songs like ‘Taare Hain Baaraati’ and ‘Payali Chunmun’. That and the top-notch performances of Anil Kapoor and Tabu made this a film for the ages.