'The journey of an actor starts when you step out of your comfort zone'
Mumbai: Shahid Kapoor, who had shaved off his hair for Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Haider’, says that not going bald for the film would not have been right. “I wanted to do this film...wanted to do a different character like this. If I had cheated then the audiences would have realized it,” he says.
A long awaited role
“Finally someone has cast me correctly. I had been waiting for a long time for an appropriate casting. I have been insane for a long time and now I have got that role,” he adds with a smile.
Shahid, who hasn’t taken any remuneration for the film, adds, “Vishal Sir (Bharadwaj) and I did the film for free. UTV, Vishal Sir and I are all partners in the film and if we had charged for our services then we would not have been able to spend on the film… We also wanted to show our conviction for the film. We really believe in it. Sometimes when you do something different then you need to take such steps. We completed the film in just 54 days.”
“I felt this was something I needed to do,” he adds.
Stepping out of the comfort zone
Praising director Vishal Bharadwaj, Shahid says, “Vishal Sir is amongst the very few directors who thought of casting me in Kaminey. I never thought that I would be able to perform that character so well. He cast me and made it clear that ‘You’ll do something that you have never done before’.”
“The journey of an actor starts when you step out of your comfort zone. When I read a script for the first time and I understand how I will play the character, I usually say ‘no’. I take it up if I don’t know how I will play the character, because that is what’s going to be challenging. If I understand the character then I am in the comfort zone,” he says.
Different films need to be the order of the day, feels Shahid, adding, “I feel the audiences are very smart now. If you show similar kinds of films over and again they will then get used to it, they are not dumb.
“You do some films for box office numbers while others you do because you believe in them and are passionate about certain types of film.”
Hamlet revisited
Giving a sneak peek into the story of Haider, Shahid says, “Haider’s story is a family revenge drama. A son is looking out for his father. Eventually it is an adaptation of Hamlet. This story is beyond boundaries and times. If anyone has the ability to adapt and interpret this story then it is Vishal Sir. This has been proven in the past. This film of Vishal’s will be different from his earlier two films. It’s like different flavours of ice cream. If you are opening an ice cream shop you need to have strawberry, vanilla and other flavors. Similarly an actor has to have different shades in his acting. You might be a star but you cannot call yourself an actor. If you want to be an actor and a star then you have to do different roles.
Daddy's boy
On comparisons between his father Pankaj Kapoor and himself, Shahid says, “There can be no comparisons with dad. He is a phenomenal actor. But the very thought of people comparing me with him makes me feel happy. Vishal compared me with dad in one scene – I read this in his interview – and I felt as though I was on the top of the world.”
