ENTER THE VILLAIN

or the other, you relive that moment when you have to do something. You keep on reading about various gangsters in papers. There’s so much you retain subconsciously. And then if you have a director who is on the same page as you and trusts you to give your best, magic happens.

How is it working with Shahid Kapoor; you’ve worked with him before in Shaandaar.

I recently had an hour long conversation with him about the film. He came early to films and as he matured, he has gotten better. From Shaandaar onwards, he’s settled on a look that feels great on him. He looked the part and was good in every frame. It wasn’t as if he was good just doing action. He was excellent in emotional scenes as well. I loved him in his scenes with his son. That love every father feels comes alive in his eyes in those scenes. He plays a man who is willing to go to any length to save his son and that’s what the audience found relatable. Even when he’s knived, even when he has been shot at, you sort of know he’s somehow going to set the pain aside for the sake of his son. I’m passionate about my work and so is he. We gelled together on Shaandaar because of that and I had a great time working with him again.

Your elder brother, Anil Kapoor, too worked in the Hindi remake of the hit British series, The Night Manager and plays a negative role in it. Do you both compare notes when you meet?

No, we don’t. We’re both busy as hell and don’t get that much time to spend together. When we do meet, we try to talk about something other than cinema. It’s not as if we don’t talk about films, or about the roles we have been doing. Of course we do. But we have a life beyond that and try to focus on other stuff. He’s a fantastic actor and has been fab in The Night Manager but we haven’t compared notes about how to go about essaying negative characters.

If you had to pick a role from like these recent OTT releases, what would you pick, whichrole would you play?

Recently I saw Manoj Bajpayee’s Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai. It’s a fantastic film which is so relevant to our times. And he has got a fabulous author-backed role in it. So I would pick up that.

What’s in store for you in the future?

My next release is Merry Christmas, directed by one of my favourite directors, Sriram Raghavan. It has Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif in it as my co-stars. And then I’ve got Murder Mubarak which also has a fantastic ensemble cast comprising Vijay Varma, Pankaj Tripathi, Dimple Kapadia, Karisma Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan. It is basically a family style whodunit. It was great to be part of that film. Then I’ve got a web show coming up with Prakash Jha, called Lal Batti. That’s also complete. I’ve been shooting between

About How To Go About Essaying Negative Characters

Allahabad, Lucknow and Delhi for it in recent times and seen parts of India which I always wanted to but somehow wasn’t able to. So that was a bonus. Then I’ve got a cameo coming up in a fabulous show, which you will know next month. I’m excited about it .It’s the Season 2 of a successful show. And I’m again working with one of my favourite directors in it. n