‘I choose to do films that I believe in’

Kunal Kapoor has worked in an equal number of mainstream Bollywood movies and offbeat films, but he has lately taken to choosing roles in content-driven films rather than in run-of-themill entertainers. Ask him if he is picky about the films he associates himself with, and he says, “I think we all pick the best from what we are offered. Recently, I did only two films; they were small productions. I was offered a lot of big films, but I choose to do films that I believe in.” So was being a star or chasing the top spot never on the agenda? “I don’t think you can run after stardom or being number one, and say, ‘I am going to do movies that are going to make me number one’. I think it’s the other way around. I think you have to chase what you love, and hopefully, a lot of people like what you love, and that translates into big box-office numbers. I don’t think it can be the other way around. I think you really have to know what you want to do. It is important to take a stand for what you believe in. And if that makes you a star, or number one, two or three, then that’s the by-product.”

Ask him if there are any prerequisites to be an actor and survive in this industry, and the actor says, “It is difficult to survive in the business. We are in business of acting, so you have to be thick-skinned; you have to treat it like a business. But at the same time, you have to allow the artist in you to be vulnerable as well. So I think it’s a combination of being thick-skinned, but still allowing yourself to be sensitive enough to not allow the artist inside you to sort of die — to be open to influences around you.”

It is difficult to survive in the business. We are in business of acting, so you have to be thickskinned; you have to treat it like a business. KUNAL KAPOOR, ACTOR