Ram Kapoor: Exclusive – Naman Shaw talks about ‘kissing’ incident with Ram Kapoor in 2006: ‘People started questioning my sexuality’

Actor Naman Shaw has broken his silence on a 2006 media interaction that made headlines, recalling how his co-star Ram Kapoor’s on-set kiss left him grappling with questions about his sexuality for years.The incident took place on the sets of Ekta Kapoor’s popular show Kasam Se, where both the actors were starring. “Ram Kapoor has a habit of kissing people. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s a boy or a girl. And something similar happened to me at the very beginning of my career, around 2006,” Naman shared.Recalling that moment, he said, “A journalist came to our set because the show was doing very well. Ram was in a vanity mood and I was there too. During the interview, the journalist asked Ram, ‘What do you think of Naman as a co-actor?’ Suddenly Ram pulled me towards him, kissed me on the cheek and said something like, ‘Oh, I love Naman. He’s a great actor. He’s an actor with a great ass, and I take inspiration from his inspiration.”A media frenzy ensued. “The whole incident was completely blown out of proportion. The very next day it became a front page article with a headline like, ‘Ram Kapoor and Naman come out of the closet?’ And the quote ‘Naman is a handsome actor with a great ass’ became a talking point,” Naman said.Actor Mangal Lakshmi admitted that the coverage was damaging. “I was new at the time, so I honestly didn’t know how to react. The channel and everyone involved became worried because the show was extremely popular. My family was also very upset and worried after seeing the headlines.”He added that the channel eventually intervened to clarify. “Another article was published explaining that this whole thing had been misconstrued and taken out of context. But yeah, it really bothered me for quite a long time because suddenly people started questioning my sexuality and asking me, ‘Are you straight?’ Are you gay?”Looking back, Naman calls it “a funny moment between two actors that was completely overblown.” But he acknowledged the impact it had on him as a rookie. “Because the industry was new at the time, it was definitely difficult to deal with.”The actor also weighed in on Ram Kapoor’s expressive nature, which reportedly courted controversy again in the second season of Lock Up in 2026 after similar kissing incidents on the reality show.“I know Ram is a very expressive person, but I think sometimes he needs to control his emotions and be a little more considerate because you never know how the other person will take it,” Naman said. “I was totally comfortable with it, but not everyone can be comfortable with that kind of love or facial expression. Some people might be genuinely offended or uncomfortable. I mean, even on the show Lock Upp, I see people getting offended by it.”For Naman, the message is clear: “It was just a moment. But when you’re new, moments like that stay with you.”Kasam Se stars Ram Kapoor (as Jai Walia) and Naman Shaw (as Pushkar Shukla) along with Prachi Desai (as Bani Dixit) in career-defining roles.