I and Ranveer Singh will get married when the law changes: Arjun Kapoor

 

Usually, industry kids make their debut with a home production, but you are already pretty established. Is the pressure different from what it would have been if this was your debut film?
 

When you do a film, you don’t think like that. When you’re shooting, it’s only about getting the work done that day. You are going day-by-day, and not thinking of the bigger picture. You are only trying to make the work happen, and that goes for every film, even if it isn’t a home production. I would consider YRF as much my home production, so I put in the same amount of effort. The excitement, the nervousness… all those emotions are the same, but now that I sit down and talk to people there’s that realisation that there is certain perception that comes with working in a home production, and I am very okay with that baggage. I am very proud of my home production, I am very proud of my father and I want the film to do very well.

 

Was it easier then to work in a home production?
 

No, because there are a lot more emotions off-camera. You feel lots of things… I had my father on the sets for the very first time. I mean, he has always seen my films before they release, but that’s the final product. He got to see my process as an actor for the very first time and that’s a different feeling. Waking up on an outdoor and knowing your dad’s staying in the next room, you can meet him before you go… I have not had that all my life... I mean for as long as I can remember. It’s always been that you meet him at some point in the day or talk to him over the phone, but to wake up in the morning and share a meal with him or to meet him on the set for lunch, those are things I have not experienced before. So there were those emotions. 

See.. I am a producer’s son, I have grown up in the industry, so I know that time is of essence, and money is important. You want to make the movie in certain amount though you want to give it a Boney Kapoor scale because that, inherently, is his style.

 

Looking back, any regrets it wasn’t your first film?
 

 I didn’t do my first film with the home banner because I wanted to be worth something so that my dad could make his kind of film. But on the sets, I like to be his reality check, his mirror. I can tell him that you want to do this, it’s great, but instead of five days, I’ll work doubly hard and do it in four-and-a-half days or even four days. That’s’ what happened when we were shooting for the Superman song. We would wake up early in the morning and wait for the fog to clear. Then we would keep shooting till we could. The song was scheduled for five days, but we finished it in four, so on the fifth day we didn’t know what to do. So I told Remo (D’Souza) let’s just shoot the song everywhere once again. So when in the trailer you see so many places it’s because we were pushing the unit and so we got better output. But there was no pressure ki yaar kya hoga, because that nobody can control the fate of the film. Unfortunately, that’s never in your hands. But I am happy that I have worked with dad at this point. Maybe if it was my first film I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Having this little experience of two years keeps me sane and calm and doesn’t let me feel the burden of pressure.

 

You’ve always been close to Salman Khan, the Superman song seems to be an ode to him…
 

I was quite surprised when I heard the song because I never thought Amit, our director, will be thinking of such a commercial hook line for the song. I thought he would have that montage kind of a song, establishing Agra ka character. Remember that song, Dhakka Laga Buka in Yuva? This song was supposed to be like that…a journey in the alleys of Agra.  But suddenly they found this hook and they realised that it works very well with my character Pintu. He genuinely believes he is a superhero because he helps people all the time, and he is a fan of Salman in the film, so it made sense. That really worked, and I got really excited. I always knew that yes, the media is going to perceive it in a very different way. I told Amit ‘Dekh le, ye koi aur karta toh shayad pass ho jata, but mere saath toh there’s no chance it will seen as just another song’. I loved the song, but I told him to be prepared because it will never be Pintu’s song, it will be Arjun’s song for Salman. Hum kitne baar bhi bol de key eh Pintu ke liye likha hai, but people are going to say nahi  yeh Arjun ne Salman ke liye kiya hai. It came from an organic-ness in the film and then you realise it fits with the film’s perception too, and the fact that I am doing it. So two plus two became four in a very nice way. It wasn’t manipulated.  I loved it and I was looking forward to doing a song where I get to dance after Chokra Jawaan.

 

Yes, that was the first time you showcased your dancing skills.
 

Chokra Jawaan was my an acid test to prove to Aditya Chopra that I can dance. He thought  I had two left feet. Everyone at Yash Raj -- because of my body structure and by body language -- thought I was a very laidback, lazy, two left feet. For Chokra Jawaan, I rehearsed for five days then I performed for Adi in the studio in the rehearsal hall for five-and-a-half minutes… like a stage show. And then Adi said, ‘Okay you can do it’. He had said that if I hadnt proved to him then they would have shot the song diffrently. With Gauhar dancing and me just watching it. But I refused to accept it, and I wanted to prove myself. 2 States had little dancing, Gunday was more free styling and less dancing. But with the Tevar song now, I can say people haven’t seen me dancing like this.

 

Do you enjoy dancing or is it something you do like a job?
 

I love dancing. I know that I am not the best dancer, but I enjoy dancing. I think it shows on your face when you like dancing. We have grown up seeing people like Govinda and Madhuri Dixit who love dancing. We loved them not just because of the way they dance, but also because they could make you want to dance. I am that kind of person, when I see someone dancing well I feel like dancing. But when someone complicates it, I get scared. As long as I am comfortable with it, I enjoy it. Superman was me finding my comfort level again. There’s another song which you will see later in which I have danced again…kyunki producer papa hain toh maine pura advantage liya hai (laughs).

 

 

I have never perceived it that way. I think in my generation, I am one of the few actors, who have done so many ensembles movies. Finding Fanny, I knew was truly one and I really enjoyed it. In Aurangzeb, Prithvi had an amazing role.  2 States is also an ensemble, without Amrita Singh and Ronit Roy that film is nothing. I have never seen it that way. In Tevar too, both Sonakshi Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee have important roles. But yes, I love doing ensemble movies. Finding Fanny was selfishly a wholesome experience for me because I got to work with Naseer, Pankaj, Dimple mam and Deepika, and all in the same frame at the same time. It was really good fun. I would love to do a two hero-three hero film as long as it gives me something to bite into like Fanny did.  In Gunday, I knew both the roles are equally fleshed out. We could’ve switched our roles and still got equal credit for it. I would love to do a movie like Ocean’s 11, but nobody is going to make it here. If I was to do that movie, I would love to do Matt Damon’s role. I would love to see more cooler, senior actors play George Clooney and Brad Pitt and I would love to play Matt Damon and observe them and blend in.

 

 

It’s about balancing. If I do three Tevar’s in a year, it’s great to do an Ocean’s 11. I chose to do a Finding Fanny because I knew I was going to be doing an Okdru remake after it. That much sensibility you have to garner, ke okay you want to do this also and that also for yourself. It’s fun mixing and matching and enjoying yourself. It might change in one year, you might meet me and I might say ‘Mujhe toh sirf solo hero hi karni hai’, but at this point I am open to anything.

 

 

I would love to do an urban romcom, but I think jab tak mein daadi shave nahi karungi tab tak mujhe koi aisa offer nahi dega.

 

 

I also sensed that change in women after 2 States, especially the younger generation. And also children, who were scared of me. I remember I was travelling for an ad and a lady came up to me in hotel lobby, and said that her seven-eight year old son watches Gunday every night while eating his dinner. And I was really excited because I have done stuff like that. I used to watch Ram Lakhan while having dinner. So I went to meet him. When he saw me he kept saying ‘Bala, Bala’. His expressions went from being taken aback to wailing loudly. He spent more than hour in the lobby of that hotel hiding from me. That’s when I though ki yeh badalna padega.

 

 

One thing that I have realised is that you can’t plan all these things. I didn’t know where I was going to be after two years when Ishqzaade released. There are too many factors like luck, destiny, circumstances, a good director and most importantly - acceptance from the audience. You can’t plan that. You can work really hard, look your best, but if they don’t want to see you, then they don’t want to see you. And sometimes they want to see you no matter what. There’s something the audience catches and latches on to. I always wonder how it happened so quickly with Ishaqzaade. I always thought I will have to work slow and steady to get to a scenario where I can do a movie like Tevar. It’s a full-on commercial, entertaining film, which nobody from my generation has really attempted it. People have done it in probably a two-hero set up like Gunday, but nobody from my generation has done a solo, typical Hindi film. If I can do it in two years, and create some buzz that will have people intrigued to go and see the film after the trailer then that’s a good sign. It means that there’s some level of acceptance from the audience.

 

 

Kabhi Kabhi lagta ki log itna kyun notice karte hain. Rhea (Kapoor) is doing my styling now. But in my personal life I can’t think so much about these things. If I had it my way, I would wear my favourite yellow shorts and any shirt that was lying around while stepping out. But now you realise that there’s an excitement among people to know how you are, what you are, and about your personal life. That has happened due to the success of the films. But I still can’t be dressing up and think so much. If I am growing out my hair now, I am going to be have a month of bad hair days. But I am okay with it. You should realise that people may notice now and comment on it, but when you look fine after a month they will forget that. During Gunday, I had a quiff, which can look strange with a suit. People would say iske paas baal katne ke paise nahi hai. But how many people can I explain it to that I am doing it for a movie? Something looks good on camera, but they may not be appealing off it. Like in Tevar, I knew I wanted to look broad, because if I am beating up 10 people, I should look like someone who can pull it off. I am anyway broad, I am a kabbadi player, so I thought let me use that to my advantage and play it to the gallery. But if I am looking like that while promoting 2 States obviously I don’t look like I did in that film because I am shooting this one. I can’t help it. For Gunday, I worked very hard to make sure that Ranveer and I looked like two sides of a coin. You can’t be worried and bogged down by who is saying what about you all the time.

 

 

These days when you are promoting a film, it’s almost like shooting a film. I have a feeling some actors will soon start charging to promote the films. You have to keep aside almost 30 days for promotions now. It includes travel, interviews, events, and other promotions… It definitely needs atleast three weeks. I have promoted three movies this year. Basically, I have shot Tevar promoted Gunday, shot Tevar promoted 2 States, shot Tevar promoted Fanny, shot Tevar promoted Tevar. That’s been my chronology in a year. We promoted 2 States for 37 days, around the world. We’ve been to London for one night and then returned in the morning. We couldn’t even eat there. We just passed out, woke up in the morning and were flying out.

 

 

It’s not something that I want. It just happens. Just yesterday, I was telling someone that 2+2 is now 36, it’s not even 22 now. Sonakshi is my neighbour. I have known her since school days, we are acquaintances and friendly for many years. We have always met at parties and would hang around. This is the first time I’ve worked with her. And when you work with someone you get to know them better. Either you get along with them or you realise that this person cannot become a friend. In her case, I really got along with her and that just made it easy for us to be more than just social friends because we know each other’s friends too. We have stepped out for 10 films, but it’s just we have been snapped two-three times. And you can’t explain it to everyone that we had eight other people with us. It’s okay, it’s a small price to pay. The link-ups cannot be changed.

 

 

Not between her and me. The one thing I don’t appreciate is that sometimes people jump to the conclusion that these people are just doing it for publicity of their film.

 

 

Yes, I have been told that also. But I don’t kind of agree with it. I don’t think that audiences are that stupid enough to go watch a movie because of a link-up story. Maybe people would come out of curiosity about the actor’s for the first day, but after that it’s about the film and how good it is. At least, I don’t come from that school of thought that believes you need to do all this to make your movie work. That’s the only thing that irks me a little…people shouldn’t assume that we are doing it for publicity. If a boy and a girl in the 21st century can’t go out for a film and be normal means we have reached the end of the world yaar.

 

 

That’s my equation with Salman and the family…there’s nothing to speculate. I think there were far more interesting things happening like Shah Rukh and Salman bhai meeting.

 

 

I am aware of the going-ons because I have grown up in the industry. The way people discuss things at their dinner table, this is normal conversation for us. We would probably know if a movie is being before many people would because we are a part of this profession. It’s not that we are dying to know, it’s just that it’s a part of our lives. It’s very matter-of-fact. I don’t need to keep a track because it automatically comes to you.

 

 

Hum shaadi karne wale hain jis din rules badal jaayenge.

 

 

Deepika who? There’s only Ranveer and me (laughs).

 

 

There’s something nice that Akshay Kumar had once said, he said that we are not horses who are in a race. We are not pitting each other against one another, that’s the media does so that they can compare who they like better. But liking someone is completely subjective. We are at a very nascent stage in the industry to take all this seriously. There’s enough work for all of us to do…even though I haven’t signed any new film (laughs). But there is work for everyone. And these factors if they start affecting your personal life then you’ll never be happy. You have to look beyond them.

 

 

Maybe that’s because we all know each other before we joined the industry. Ranveer and I knew each other before we’ve became what we have become today. I know Varun (Dhawan). I knew Sid before his Student of the Year and my Ishaqzaade released. But just because we’ve started doing well doesn’t mean we start behaving differently with each other. Why would you change your friendships because your life on the professional has undergone changes? I understand why people would assume it would be difficult to balance the two, but if you don’t think about all this then it’s very easy. And I am genuinely very fond of the guy (Ranveer). I can be very honest with him about his films and he is equally honest about my work. He saw 2 States and he called me, I spoke to him about Ram Leela. With Fanny, he was too excited about his one-minute cameo (laughs). After watching the film, he kept telling me, you are going to Hollywood. I told him that I can’t go to Hollywood, Anil Kapoor is already there.