Arjun’s mantra: Just work, don’t get cocky
Earlier this year, Arjun Kapoor completed six years in Bollywood — his debut was in Ishaqzaade (2012). And by now, the actor seems to have come up with his success mantra of sorts. “Sometimes, it’s good to know why audiences like you. But in six years, I’ve realised that you can never have just one answer that ‘this is why people like you.’ You shouldn’t try and discover why they praise and like you. If you get too intelligent and smart and are like, ‘My fans or audiences want this,’ you’ll mess it up,” says the actor, whose next film is Namaste England, to be released later this year.
According to Arjun, one should “react impulsively to the material [script]”. His advice — for himself and for others — is: “Keep working, don’t get over-smart, arrogant and cocky. Learn from your mistakes. Don’t take it for granted that you’re here to stay, because the industry is a great leveller. Every time you feel you’re ahead of audiences, they’ll pull you back.”
Recently, after Arjun’s cousin, actor Sonam K Ahuja, got married, his uncle Anil Kapoor told us that the latter was feeling “on top of the world”. When we mention it, Arjun laughs and says, “Anil chachu is feeling on top of the world because people have told him, ‘You don’t look like a father; it seems as if your sister has got hitched.’”
And his own wedding plans? “I’ll get married when Rhea [Kapoor, cousin] and Anshula [Kapoor, sister] do. It could take two, four or even six years; I don’t know,” he says.
Don’t take it for granted that you’re here to stay, because the [film] industry is a great leveller.
ARJUN KAPOOR ACTOR