- Ram Kapoor kissed co-actor Naman Shaw on the cheek during a 2006 media interaction
- The incident sparked media speculation about their sexuality and caused controversy
- Naman Shaw said the media exaggerated the event, impacting his personal and professional life
Ram Kapoor has been making headlines for his game on Lock Upp Season 2. The actor's behaviour inside the house has also sparked criticism. Several viewers have questioned the actor after he was seen kissing fellow contestants, especially women. However, this is not the first time his behaviour has drawn attention.
Naman Shaw, who worked with Ram in Kasamh Se, recently recalled an incident from 2006 that led to years of questions about his sexuality. During a media interaction, Ram was asked about Naman and suddenly pulled him closer, kissed him on the cheek, and praised him in a light-hearted manner.
What Ram may have seen as a friendly gesture soon became a major talking point in the media. Newspapers even published headlines questioning whether the two actors were gay. Naman said the incident was taken far too seriously and caused problems for the show.
In a conversation with The Times of India, Naman Shaw recalled, “Ram Kapoor has this habit of kissing people. It doesn't really matter whether it's a boy or a girl. And something similar happened with me very early in my career, around 2006. A journalist came to our set because the show was doing extremely well. Ram was in the vanity and I happened to be there as well. During the interview, the journalist asked Ram, ‘What do you think about Naman as a co-actor?' Suddenly, Ram pulled me towards him, kissed me on the cheek, and said something along the lines of, ‘Oh, I love Naman. He's a great actor. He's an actor with a great a**, and I get inspiration from him'.”
“The whole incident was completely blown out of proportion. The very next day, it became a front-page story with a headline along the lines of, ‘Are Ram Kapoor and Naman out of the closet?' And the quote, ‘Naman is a good-looking actor with a great a**,' became the subject of discussion. I was very new at the time, so I honestly didn't know how to react. The channel and everyone involved got worried because the show was extremely popular. My family was also quite upset and concerned after seeing the headlines.”
Naman Shaw shared that another report later clarified that the incident had been misunderstood. Even after that, he said the story continued to affect him for a long time. People started asking him personal questions like, "Are you straight? Are you gay?" Naman felt that the incident was small, but the media made it much bigger than it really was. Since he was new to the entertainment industry at the time, dealing with so much attention was difficult for him.
The actor said that Ram Kapoor is a very expressive person and often shows his feelings openly. At the same time, he believes Ram should be more careful about how he behaves with others.
Naman explained that while he was comfortable with Ram's actions, not everyone may feel the same way. Others might feel awkward or uncomfortable, pointing to similar incidents involving Ram on Lock Upp Season 2, where some contestants appeared upset by his actions.