You’ve to hold on to your sanity, says Arjun Kapoor
As the actor readies to end 2017 on a high, producer Boney Kapoor’s son says since he has grown up in the industry, he knows that the “perception changes on FridaytoFriday basis”
Thanks to Ishaqzaade’s big success in 2012, he started his Bollywood career with a bang. After that, although Arjun Kapoor faced his share of ups-and-downs, the actor never let that affect him “a lot”. “From the first day itself, I have been surrounded by people, who would never let success get to my head. Since I have grown up in the industry, I know that people’s perceptions change on a Friday-to-Friday basis,” says the actor, who delivered money-spinners such as Half Girlfriend and Mubarakan in 2017.
BEING SANE
Producer Boney Kapoor’s son feels “you have to hold on to your sanity regardless of your film’s box-office status.” He says: “Success does affect you but in a positive way since you feel validated that you are making good choices. Conversely, failure affects you because you feel that you worked hard on a film and so, you wish that it got the opportunity to do well.”
But interestingly, Arjun maintains that “all the feelings related to success and failure happen within the first week or 10 days of a film’s release”. He adds: “Even now, I still feel all those emotions and haven’t become immune but now, I am able to deal with them in a much better way as compared to when I had started out. So, I have become far better capable of dealing with the success and failure of a film.”
BALANCING ACT
During his five year-long career, Arjun has “also learnt how to take positive lessons out of his failures and find ways to become a better [actor] even after tasting success”. “I feel such things — especially keeping the bigger picture in mind — keeps you balanced in the longer run because the ambition is not to do 3-4 films but to sustain [in the industry] for a long time and keep doing good work,” he says.
The 2 States (2014) actor is aware that if one starts to fly too high, “audiences will shake you up, especially if they don’t like your work”. “But at the same time, if you undermine yourself due to a failure, then you can never perform at your optimum level as an actor because in such a case, you damage yourself a lot psychologically,” he says.
That’s why Arjun feels the “idea is to find a balance” and “so, it’s very important to have good people around you”. He says, “If you lose self-conviction and belief, then it becomes a problem.” Workwise, he is “trying to do all kinds of film, teaming up with all kinds of film-makers and exploring all kinds of subjects”. “I don’t think anyone is content, especially no actor will ever use that word. So, I think I am happy,” he says.