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Born into an Indian film (see film and cinema) dynasty, Kapur graduated from the Hindi film industry as an actor, in films such as Ishq Ishq Ishq (1974) and Bhula Na Dena (1980), and as a director/producer. His Hindi directorial debut Masoom (1982) was followed by the curry western Joshilay (1985), from which he resigned before completion, and then Mr India (1987), an invisible man story. A qualified chartered accountant, Kapur also worked as a fashion (see fashion and design) model, advertising and te levis ion director, and presenter on the provocative Channel 4 discussion programme On the Other Hand, before directing Bandit Queen in 1994. Kapur's controversial film about the life of the low-caste folk heroine Phoolan Devi incurred the wrath of censors, politicians, and Devi herself on charges of defamation. None the less, Bandit Queen was critically acclaimed as a powerful portrayal of caste and female oppression. In 1998, Kapur directed the Oscar-nominated historical epic Elizabeth in another study of personal and political female transformation, depicting Elizabeth's accession as Queen against the religious conflicts and violence of seventeenth-century England. Successfully bridging the Hindi and British film industries, Kapur is currently collaborating with Andrew Lloyd Webber on both the tentatively titled Bol lywood stage musical Bombay Dreams and a screen adaptation of Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. In addition to his Indian Starlight Television company, Kapur has also launched plans for the broadband Web channel IndiaGeek.com with Farrukh Dhondy to stream innovative short films, dramas, animation and documentaries for the Indian diaspora.