It is officially the finale day of Ms Marvel. The Marvel Cinematic Universe series stands special for those who’ve grown up with Pakistani and Indian roots regardless of the countries they are living in. From elements of a traditional desi household to songs that, at some point, featured in our playlist, MCU hit it out of the park when it came to representation. One such fond element of the series is undeniably the role of Yusuf Khan, played by Indian actor Mohan Kapur.
Essaying the role of an endearing father, Kapur manages to not only retain the essence of a typical desi father but also adds a layer of MCU to his character with the ‘papa Hulk.’ With the series now coming to an end, we caught up with Kapur for a quick tête-à-tête and spoke about all things MCU.
The actor, in his usually jovial spirit, excitedly revealed that he has received widely positive reactions from fans for his portrayal of Yusuf. “Just from seeing sweet things like people saying that you’re the best dad in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You’re the best dad ever on-screen to the Green Hulk scene of mine which everyone is loving. It’s just amazing stuff, man,” Kapur shared.
Ms Marvel is not Kapur’s first run-in with MCU. For the unversed, the actor has dubbed for Red Skull for the Hindi-dubbed version of Captain America: The First Avenger before he went on to lend his voice for Doctor Strange for the Hindi versions of Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Looking back at his journey through the MCU, Kapur said that it feels nothing but surreal.
“People ask ‘Did you ever dream this will never happen.’ Firstly, I don’t have the audacity to dream something and secondly, this world I’m living in now is a dream. It’s not been a dream. But this is a dream for me. So I’ll need to wake up from this dream sequence but I hope never (wake up from this dream),” Kapur shared.
Ms Marvel was predominantly shot during the Covid-19 pandemic. The actor revealed that Marvel Studios had taken utmost importance to ensure everyone was safe and thus, most of the time the actors spent time in a bio bubble. While this ensured safety, it hardly gave time to the cast to bond with each other. The little time that they did get to bond, it was on the sets.
Asked him about his on-screen daughter Kamala aka Iman Villani and the actor is all praise for her. “What you see is what she is actually in real life. She is Kamala Khan because she is a crazy Marvel fan so she is so she just adapted to the role. For me, I just think she’s such a cute looking kid that I feel the fatherly emotions towards her,” he said. “If Iman was my daughter, that’s exactly how we’d be,” he added.
While Kapur is a crucial part of the first half of the series, his character goes behind the curtains when Kamala and her mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) head to Karachi and the series takes a turn. Although the spotlight is on Kamala’s maternal side of the family, Kapur confessed he wished he was a part of the Karachi schedule.
“I was really missing being part of the Karachi schedule because it’s such an important phase in the story of Ms Marvel. It’s telling her about her past about the family about Aisha, Sana, and all that. So it’s all going to come to fruition from here. And at the same time, you know, the bad guys are like, after them. I really missed being there,” he said.
With Ms Marvel episode 5, the gruesome partition became an important part of the MCU. Speaking about writing and portrayal of the scene, Kapur said, “I don’t know how many people in the world know about (the partition). You know, that was our genocide, if you might call it. That was our country, a country breaking up into two and people leaving their land of years because of whatever political reasons and things like that. The scenes are shot so beautifully and it really moves. Wow! And I think the world should know about this major event that happened.”
Although the series is coming to an end, Kapur has confirmed that the Khan family will return for Brie Larson-led The Marvels. The film would intertwine Kamala Khan with the bigger MCU picture while also introducing South Korean actor Park Seo-joon into the MCU. Although Kapur did not delve into the details of the film, he did reveal that his share of filming is done.
While we wait to see that happen, we asked Kapur if the second season of Ms Marvel is also in talks. The actor said that he hasn’t been informed about Ms Marvel season 2 as yet. “I was telling the director after the red carpet that I hope now we get a second season. They said ‘think big my friend. Why just the second season? Think of Ms Marvel the movie.’ I said ‘Ho jaye toh acha hai (I hope it works out),’” Kapur said.
Here’s hoping Ms Marvel returns for another season. Ms Marvel is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
