Anil Kapoor revealed it was Amitabh Bachchan who suggested him of not taking a break from acting as the Bollywood megastar made a mistake by doing so.

Kapoor, who has been in the industry for almost 38 years now, said there was a time when he was pondering to take sabbatical but spoke to Bachchan who advised him not to go for it.

"I can't remember any best or worst phase of my career. For me it is always about reinvention and experimenting. I am consistent, steady and feel fortunate to be a part of good films. I remember we were shooting for "Armaan"... There was a time when I wanted to take sabbatical and I did speak to Amitabh ji about it," Kapoor told PTI.

"He (Bachchan) said he made the mistake of not working for some years and told me not to take a break. I have not taken ever. I respect him, I look upto him," he said.

In 1984, Bachchan took a break from acting and briefly entered politics and resigned after three years. In 1988, he returned to films, achieved success for a while but later saw a dull phase till popular game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" happened in 2000.

Talking about the kind of risks that Kapoor took in his long career, he said, "I love experimenting, reinventing right from the beginning of my career. I have taken too many risks.. Dangerous risks. People expect me to do tapori roles and I do 'Ishwar', 'Lamhe', 'Biwi No 1', 'Taal', 'Welcome' or do small cameos. I kept doing out of the box things."

The "Mr India" actor said he feels fortunate to have different roles offered to him from the starting of his career and most of the time things have worked in his favour.

Beside playing lead roles, Kapoor has also essayed character roles and has been appreciated both by critics and audience.

"I do strong characters like in 'Taal', 'Biwi No 1', 'Slumdog Millionaire', 'No Entry'. I feel after a certain time, for longevity it is important to play strong roles," the 58-year-old actor said.

Kapoor said though he has never been in "quintessential good looking hero" mould, his roles have done the talking.

"If I go in crowd people would never call me Anil Kapoor, they would call me Munna, Lakhan, Mr India, Majnu bhai or say Jhakaas or a few famous dialogues of mine," he added.


While Bachchan's grand comeback on the small screen with Anurag Kashyap's "Yudh" failed to garner attention, Kapoor managed to achieve success on small screen with his debut show "24" and the shows have often drawn comparisons.

"I haven't seen the show so (Yudh) I cannot comment on it. The response to '24' has been phenomenal from all over the world. It was surprising that teenagers, youngsters were watching this show. I feel after some point in life you have to keep reinventing self," Kapoor said.

"24" was the Indian remake of hit American TV serial of the same name. Kapoor acquired the rights from US Fox network to remake the Indian version and was aired in October 2013.

The actor-producer will be next seen in Zoya Akhtar's "Dil Dhadkane Do" where he plays on-screen father of actors Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh.

"I heard the script twice and when Zoya and I met, we had some references about the character.. It was almost the same. It was great creative collaboration. Despite all the experience I have till now, I keep myself open and try to listen more than to tell as I feel you can learn something," Kapoor said.

Beside Kapoor the film also stars Farhan Akhtar, Anushka Sharma and Shefali Shah.

"I have worked with Priyanka and Shefali before and it was fun working with Farhan, Ranveer and Anushka. They are so energetic," he added.