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
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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.