Indian star Arjun Kapoor on making it to Bollywood

Gulf News

Indian star Arjun Kapoor on making it to Bollywood. Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor talks about his journey into Bollywood and the burden of a famous father. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00I'm not an actor, but something in the fraternity, something in the film industry.

00:17I've grown up loving cinema, I've grown up wanting to be part of cinema in some way,

00:22in some capacity.

00:23So it's kind of panned out in a way where I was working towards being in the film industry

00:27and then I found what I wanted to do in the film industry.

00:33We've made our debut, this group of new actors, we've all made our debut at the perfect time

00:39because the limits are being crossed in terms of the thought processes are changing.

00:46Like the year I debuted, Ishaqzada did well, my film, and so did Rowdy Rathore, which is

00:52an out and out commercial film.

00:54You had a Viki donor, that was Ayushman's film that did really well and you had Ekta

00:57Tiger do 200 crores plus.

00:58So that shows you that the audience is willing to go to the theatre to watch all kinds of

01:02films.

01:03We are blessed to get opportunities.

01:04So in my own career, if you look at it, last year I had three releases, I had Gunde, Two

01:10States and Finding Fan.

01:11In all three different spectrums, Gunde is an out and out commercial Hindi film in the

01:17essence of representing Hindi cinema.

01:20Two States is a contemporary romantic comedy with the same old problems that people face

01:24when they have to get married today in India.

01:26And Finding Fan is an English film, which Hindi film industry person would have thought

01:31that we'll be making English movies.

01:34So yeah, I think that gives you a sense of what we've achieved in our industry so far.

01:42There's not a moment, because it was a journey of four years losing those 55-60 kilos I had

01:47to lose.

01:48What am I doing?

01:49I'm taking a chance, I'm putting my entire life on the line on this belief that I can

01:53be an actor.

01:55Let alone being an actor, I believe I can be a commercial, mainstream hero in a country

01:59full of good-looking actors.

02:02I knew I was not the most conventional, regular-looking guy.

02:06Today, maybe people might consider me good-looking only because of the roles I've done or the

02:10personality that has come to the forefront, but back then I was irrelevant.

02:15So every morning to wake up was difficult, but the one day I do remember is when I went

02:19to acting class for the first time, after I'd lost enough weight, I went to Barry John's

02:23acting class.

02:24Varun and me, Varun Dhawan and me, both were in acting class together.

02:27And there were 30 of us, and nobody knew who we were, that was good, it was an even playing

02:35turf.

02:3630 people who didn't know each other's backgrounds.

02:39So they didn't know we were from the film industry, as kids, film industry kids.

02:44And I went and I did something, I went up on stage and made a complete fool out of myself,

02:49but in a good way.

02:50And they all liked it, they all laughed, they all clapped.

02:53And I do distinctly remember that moment, because this is what acting is all about,

02:57if you can take a chance and make people emote, or get a sense of feeling when you're doing

03:03something.

03:04And that's when I decided this is something I definitely do want to pursue at a serious level.

03:11Of course I get that all the time, it happens in people's thinking, and I don't completely

03:17agree with that.

03:18I don't understand why they think like that, because it's always positioned in a way where

03:22oh, obviously he'll get a chance millions of times, but I didn't.

03:27I went, I assisted, I went after that, I auditioned and I got in with an audition, it's not that

03:34that audition happened because I was somebody's son, I was taken on for that audition because

03:39I went and met the casting director in my own capacity, I went and spent time with her,

03:43she auditioned me twice, she showed it to Aditya Chopra, he liked my audition, and then he

03:47called me and he re-auditioned me again, and then I got the first film.

03:51So I went through a process, it's not that I just got it, and I don't think in this industry

03:56you can get your first chance by being somebody's son.

03:58So doors can open for you, but you still have to go inside and do something.

04:02So a door is open, you'll get an opportunity, but what you do with the opportunity is completely

04:06on your talent and your possibilities that you have.

04:09So I hate the thought being embedded in people's minds, I feel it changes over a course of

04:15time, I can't talk about it and change people's thinking, my work will eventually change that.

04:19I think we all have that journey, I do feel I've achieved that to a great extent, being

04:24in my own capacity, my own man, and I love being called my father's son, I will never

04:30ever take away from that, I don't want that to not be part of my identity, but that's

04:33not the reason people want to work with me, I think people don't want to waste their money

04:38just because I'm somebody's son and give me films.

04:40There has to be a certain level of acting that I do know that people are signing me

04:44on for films, yeah.

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