India, July 27 -- You'd be hard-pressed to find two young artists more steeped in the Bollywood showbiz tradition than Aditya Rawal and Zahan Kapoor. One is the son of veteran actor Paresh Rawal and actress and former Miss India Swaroop Sampat. The other is a scion of the first family of Bollywood, the son of actor-director Kunal Kapoor and grandson of Shashi Kapoor. In a more predictable version of this story, they would have followed the usual 'star kid' trajectory-carefully orchestrated paparazzi buzz, glowing magazine cover stories, followed by a big-budget launch vehicle.

But these are not your typical nepo babies. Instead of chasing the limelight, they took a slower, off-beat path, honing their chops on the theatre circuit and work...