Arjun Kapoor on what people don’t know about him

Brut India

"I have taken criticism on the chin from critics... I am not delusional." Arjun Kapoor talks to Brut about dealing with failure, trolling and the success of Singham Again.

Transcript

00:00I've been through enough sh** in life.

00:01What can a few comments and all do to me?

00:03It gives them a big high now to have us react.

00:06Like, look, I've passed a comment.

00:09I'm not a crybaby. I don't throw my toys out of the pram.

00:12Hi, this is Arjun Kapoor for Brood.

00:22I realised there's a misconception that got created about me.

00:25That I'm very, very grumpy, which I'm not.

00:27I just have droopy eyes and a deadpan face and I have sarcasm oozing out of me.

00:32So what tends to happen is sarcasm is normally very misunderstood

00:35because people rely a lot on expression.

00:37Sarcasm is not a very desi thing, if you see.

00:40The biggest misconception is that I'm intimidating.

00:43I'm not. I'm just a tall, big-built guy.

00:46I can't really cut my arms off now, can I?

00:48So, yeah, the smile helps, I think.

00:52I just make sure I make that 5% extra effort that goes a long way

00:55in disarming people and calming them down.

01:01Just to put perspective, our Indian cricket team, three months back,

01:04won us the World Cup.

01:05Unfortunately, there's been some results that have not gone our way

01:10and you see the kind of negativity and scrutiny that comes.

01:12It helps you gain perspective,

01:13where if they are not going to be able to get off the hook

01:16after three months of delivering,

01:18perhaps arguably one of the greatest sporting moments in our nation,

01:21then our daily negative scrutiny is just something that people now enjoy

01:24while they're having their morning coffee.

01:26We've allowed it because we also put ourselves more out there

01:29because of social media.

01:30The world is a far more cruel place, any which ways.

01:32And negativity does create more eyeballs.

01:35You have to still believe in yourself and not let all this affect you.

01:37It's not easy, of course, but that's where you need,

01:40like I said, an ecosystem to not allow you to get consumed by it.

01:44It's not that I've not been consumed by it,

01:46but I learned how to walk away from social media.

01:48I don't check social media as much as I should.

01:50I should be.

01:51I also don't let it affect me because I've been through enough ****

01:54life. I mean, what can this what can a few comments and all do to me?

01:59If you just look at what I've been through in life from

02:01from my parents separating at the age of 10 to losing a losing a mother

02:06at the age of 24, 25, I mean, my back has been broken.

02:11So what are you going to say or do where you you've not walked a step in my

02:15my shoes. So when you've fought through that

02:19at a very deep rooted emotional, personal level,

02:22you actually become a little forgiving about these guys

02:25who just want attention and create noise because they're trying to build their pages

02:29and they're trying to build their accounts and they want a few cackles.

02:32It gives them a big high now to have us react.

02:36Yeah, look, I made a comment, but they don't realize that's a reflection of them.

02:46Like you get a punch, you get back up and you go back and fight.

02:48It's like you're getting punched.

02:49You don't let you don't let it affect you.

02:50You're still in the you're still in the ring.

02:51Right. So I, for a long time, was just taking the punches and continue.

02:55I was not really processing and I was not really thinking my mental, physical,

02:59emotional, all sorts of health started suffering.

03:04It wasn't easy, obviously.

03:06Nobody enjoys suffering and nobody enjoys

03:10films not panning out because it's also we make films a lot of love

03:14and we want them to do well.

03:15We're not just we're not just phoning it in like people do feel that sometimes.

03:19And fair enough, because they're paying money.

03:22They're allowed to have their opinion.

03:23I'm not I'm not arguing with that.

03:25But set the shooting of the men that they come because we want to see some dividends.

03:30And what happens is a lot of it comes down to nowadays

03:33a lot of negativity and hostility coming to the fore because those things sell more.

03:38Right. You need to understand who the real critics are,

03:41who the real people are that are trying to indicate to you, listen,

03:43you need to do better work or you need to work on yourself

03:46versus people who are just screaming and shouting to get your attention

03:49and create and fester negativity instead of taking the punches and still standing.

03:53I said, OK, I'm just going to take a step back.

03:54I'm going to just process this.

03:56I'm going to just make sure that I'm aware.

03:57And I think it's very important when you're going through this in life.

04:01You don't need to isolate yourself.

04:02You need to be aware, but you need to also speak about it

04:05and you need to try and figure it out.

04:06You have people around you.

04:07I did therapy. I still do.

04:10And that's not to say that this was the only reason.

04:12I think it regulated me in dealing with a lot of things, even success today.

04:15I'll be able to deal with better.

04:21I'm quite honest and open and vulnerable about most things,

04:23so people know quite a lot that I've been through or I'm going through.

04:27I think I'm a fighter and I've never given up.

04:29And that's a quality that sometimes doesn't come through as an actor

04:32because I'm private.

04:33There's a lot of perception that I have not created,

04:36but gets created around the fact that I hail from this industry.

04:40I think I'm very, very proud of the fact that I've been able to stand on my two feet,

04:44make my career, not relied on anyone else to stand up on my own feet

04:50and do my own thing.

04:51I've lived my successes humbly and I've lived my failures humbly as well.

04:54I think it gets a bit lost sometimes with being known as somebody

04:59who's, like I said, part of this industry from his childhood.

05:01But if you contextualize it, when I made my debut,

05:05nobody knew me even one day before my trailer came out.

05:07I wasn't something that was flashed around the media

05:09as some hyped up star kid making their debut.

05:12Today, I get bunched in and generalized in that space.

05:16But I actually was an unknown quantity that Aditya Chopra auditioned and believed in.

05:21So I don't think it's about what they don't know.

05:24I think what happens is it sometimes narratives shift and you get generalized.

05:28I think I'm unique.

05:29My life story is a bit unique.

05:30I would always like people to know the fact that I've hung on

05:34and always done my thing.

05:35I've never ever...

05:38I'm not a cry baby.

05:39I don't throw my toys out of the pram.

05:41I've never made a big deal.

05:42I've always...

05:43Listen, I've taken criticism on the chin from critics.

05:46I'm the first person who's turned around and said

05:47I was going through a bad phase and I gave failures.

05:49I'm not delusional.

05:50So I think just the way I've dealt with life,

05:53it's nice to remind people once in a while that, you know, don't generalize me.

06:01I never had self-doubt of my capability.

06:02The doubt was, can I get this chance?

06:04The kind of opportunities I was getting, I was not able to really push myself.

06:08I think this just allowed me to be unhinged.

06:11Also, the point in my career where I wanted to really

06:14rekindle the spark of being on set and doing something

06:17drastically different rather than being kosher.

06:20I know playing the hero in a mainstream film can be a bit vanilla

06:23and it confines you to playing to the gallery because of your

06:27because of the character you're playing.

06:28This just allowed me that freedom.

06:30And it was a no holds barred, brute, aggressive, unhinged, chaotic man

06:36who has only one agenda on mind.

06:38So I've never done it to this extreme.

06:39So I said, you know what?

06:41If I have to, I might as well do it in one of the biggest franchises

06:43our countries ever produced and see what comes out of it.

06:45So, yeah, it turned out to be a good risk.

06:48It definitely was a risk.

06:49I could have really messed it up, but I didn't.

06:53From the audience reaction, it seems like they have really enjoyed me

06:56as this unhinged character called Angel Lanka.

06:58So I'm happy about that.

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