'I was severely dyslexic': Shekhar Kapur reveals how daughter helped him discover his decades-long disorder

Veteran filmmaker Shekhar Kapur recently opened up about having been living with severe for decades without realising it. The 'Masoom' and 'Mr. India' director revealed that it was his daughter, Kaveri Kapur, who helped him uncover the condition after encouraging him to take an online test following her own diagnosis.

Shekhar Kapur's daughter made him take the test online

In an Instagram post, Shekar Kapur recalled his daughter encouraging him to take an online test. He wrote, "My daughter insisted on doing an online experiment, and guess what? She was a little Dyslexic..but to my amazement I was severely Dyslexic. And now it started to make sense for me.."

Understanding lifelong challenges

He shared how this brought clarity to many of his lifelong struggles, such as reading, filling out forms and managing paperwork. "I am petrified of forms.. like the ones that you have to fill in on an everyday basis. Always have been..The moment I look at one..I go into a state of panic. And I thought I was just irresponsible and lazy. But how did I become a Chartered Accountant? And a pretty successful one too? It's still a mystery to me..", he wrote.

He also mentioned how his line producers, he said, would joke about how he never read schedules during shoots yet still managed to complete filming on time.

Dyslexia also became a creative strength

He explained that he eventually realised that many of his creative breakthroughs may have come because of his dyslexia, not despite it. He wrote, "I had always worked around it..and compensated for my Dyslexia in making my films..and perhaps some of the great creative moments I have experienced are not inspite of my Dyslexia but because of it! By compensating for it..and now am amazed at the number of brilliant creative people with Dylexia..Is there a link? I wonder."

Shekhar Kapur was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2025, and is celebrated for his work in Indian cinema.