There can only be one mother

There can only be one mother
By:Tapasya Mitra Mazumder & Devanshi Deva

Arjun​ Kapoor may be just four films old, but he finds the mass admiration he has been showered with “very flattering”. In an interview to Mirror, he confesses to liking more things about Alia than her lips and also gets into a comparison between his mother and his step-mother Sridevi. Excerpts:

How has your journey been so far? It is very difficult to quantify it in words. Every day is a new day and it has been the most amazing experience. I always wanted to be in films; I wanted to direct. Destiny has made me an actor and I am enjoying every moment of it because I know that this is what I was meant to do. Each film has taught me so much and a part of me has gone with every film. But I have become a better person and hopefully, a better actor. And frankly I never knew such adulation and love from people would be possible in such a short span of time. If you ask me, it’s very overwhelming and very flattering. Unprecedented, in fact.

Unprecedented? I have grown up in a filmy family so I know what stardom is. I have seen Salman Khan not being able to move out of his house without getting mobbed. To put that into perspective, if the security wasn’t there, I could roam around in a mall with a hood on and you wouldn’t even know it was me unless I show my face. So I know that we (referring to Alia Bhat who was present when we met him) are still finding our feet – we are only two films old – but when people know that we are there, when they see us just like when we were in London a while ago. I didn’t know people in London would shower me with such affection after seeing me in those films. I am only two years old in the industry – three films technically – which are not very overseas friendly per se. But there was a woman holding ‘Bala mere Lala’ and she must have been above 40. And I was like, THAT is connection with an audience. Or when I was in Agra shooting for Tevar –remake of a 2003 Telugu film called Okkadu – they were calling me Bala (the name of his character in Gunday). I thought this is what we work so hard for.

Apart from kissing Alia, what about her do you like the most? She is very unassuming and I hope she remains so. She still doesn’t know her true potential as a human being and as an actor. You know, some people evolve over a course of time and know their strengths, their weaknesses. She is not calculative, which is her biggest asset and I hope she will be like that for the rest of her life.

How was your relationship with your mother? Do you share a similar bond with Sridevi? My relationship with my mother cannot even come an iota close to what my father’s second wife is in my life. She is somebody whom I have to respect because she is my father’s second wife. So there is no comparison because I think it will be deeply disrespectful to my mother if I even put them in the same context. My mother and I were best friends primarily because she was with us throughout after she and my father separated. She was there every single moment so when you have somebody who was there with you every passing breath and suddenly she is not there. It is difficult to put it in words.

Were you a nerd like your character in 2 States? Not at all. I had no inclination towards education beyond a certain point because I felt certain subjects would have no relevance in my future.

RAPID FIRE


Favourite place in the world: New York
One food that you will die for: Steak
A wardrobe must: Plain V-neck T-shirts in all colours

One role you wish you could have done: Agneepath, both of them
Bigest crush on: Kareena Kapoor sinceI was 15

Parineeti or Alia, the better actress: Both. It is too early to predict na.

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