The Zoya Factor: As Sonam Kapoor and Dulquer Salmaan Come Together, Did You Notice This Extraordinary Similarity Their Fathers Anil Kapoor and Mammootty Share?

The Zoya Factor, which is releasing on September 20, is a quirky romcom based on a bestseller written by author Anuja Chauhan. The movie brings together for the very first time, two good-looking stars in Sonam Kapoor and Dulquer Salmaan. Sonam Kapoor plays Zoya, an ad executive who suddenly becomes the lucky charm of the Indian Cricket team and is believed to be responsible for its string of recent wins. Dulquer plays Nikhil, the captain of the team, modelled after MS Dhoni, who is unhappy that the team's victories are credited to someone who isn't even playing. But sparks fly between the two, and also does friction when both clash on who is really responsible for India's winning side. The Zoya Factor Promo: Virat Kohli's Doppelganger Too Believes in Zoya's Lucky Charm! (Watch Video).

This is Dulquer's second film in Bollywood. The Malayalam star, who is also quite popular in Kollywood and Telugu cinema, had earlier made his debut in 2018 with Karwaan, co-starring Irrfan Khan and Mithila Palkar. The trailers of The Zoya Factor show the breezy chemistry that Dulquer shares with Sonam, which hopefully, will gather more footfalls for the movie.

An interesting detail to note here is that both Dulquer and Sonam had begun their careers as prolific star kids before they established themselves as stars in their own rights. Their respective fathers, Mammootty and Anil Kapoor, may have never worked together in a movie, but both are considered as two of the finest actors in Indian cinema. From The Zoya Factor to Brahmastra, Every Film Shah Rukh Khan Is Expected or Rumoured to Make a Cameo In!

Mammootty has only done five Hindi films - a cameo in the NFDC film Triyatri, a lead debut role in Bollywood in Dhartiputra, supporting roles in Swami Vivekananda and Sau Jhooth Ek Sach and a lead role in Ek Din Anjane Mein that never got released. One of his co-stars in Dhartiputra, that crashed at the box office, was Rishi Kapoor, whose son, Ranbir, had made his debut with Sonam in Saawariya.

Anil Kapoor has only done one Malayalam movie in his career, which was a cameo in Chandralekha. The movie had Mohanlal in the lead, who is considered as Mammootty's biggest box office rival, and also a dear friend offscreen. Anil Kapoor and Mohanlal also later worked together in the Bollywood film, Tezzz, that bombed at the box office.

Anil Kapoor's cameo in Chandralekha

And even though they haven't worked together, both Mammootty and Anil Kapoor have quite interesting factors in common. Like how their movie careers had begun in the same year - 1971. Mammootty had played an uncredited junior artiste in the Malayalam film, Anubhavangal Paalichakal. In the same year, Anil Kapoor, meanwhile, had played a young Shashi Kapoor in the film, Tu Payal Mein Geet, that, sadly, never got released.

Mammootty's first appearance in a movie

Both the superstars with about four-decade careers have worked with some prolific directors like Mani Ratnam (who also directed Dulquer in OK Kanmani) and Priyadarshan. They have also romanced actresses like Namrata Shirodkar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Juhi Chawla, Pooja Batra etc.

Both Mammootty and Anil Kapoor have won National Awards for Best Actor. Anil Kapoor had won the honour for his scintillating performance in the 2000 film Pukar. Mammootty won the National Award thrice in 1989 (Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and Mathilukal), 1994 (Vidheyan and Ponthan Mada) and 1999 (Marathi film Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar).

However, that's not the most common but stupefying factor about these two stars.

It's how Age seems to defy these handsome men as they have grown older. Both Mammootty and Anil Kapoor seem to be the human equivalent of wine - their looks and talents have grown only better as each year passes by.

Here's how Anil Kapoor looked in the 1983 film Woh Saat Din, which marked his first lead role in Bollywood.

And here's how youthful he looks in Total Dhamaal, his latest release.

Now, here's Mammootty in 1983 in the movie Rukma

...and here's a 68-yo Mammootty (yes, that age is right!) in his last release, Pathinettam Padi

Man, can you blame us for saying that these two legends look more elder siblings to their kids? Also, when can we have some film-maker cast these two actors in a powerhouse movie soon? Mani Ratnam, Priyadarshan, are you listening?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 16, 2019 06:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).