I feel like a man and I like being a man: Shahid

Every man should have a boy alive in him,” says Shahid Kapoor, with that famous twinkle in his eyes, and then adds, “But it’s good to reach a point where you feel like a man. And now, I feel that in the true sense. I’m a man, I’ve grown up and understood where my home front is; and that’s where my priorities are.”

Shahid’s life for the past 14 years, since his 2003 debut, has been in the fast lane — as befits a major movie star. But marriage (with Delhi girl Mira Rajput) and becoming a father (to baby daughter Misha) has sort of expanded his horizons. “I think I’ve grown up,” says Shahid. “I think you just grow up [automatically]. I’m not a boy anymore; I feel like a man and I like being a man.”

So, what’s his state of mind right now? “There are a lot of things. I, of course, feel very settled,” says the star of Haider and Rangoon. “[Life] does bring in a few changes when one settles down and has a family.” It has changed him and changed his relationship with other people. “Now I feel the need to make people happy. That’s not something I used to feel earlier. I don’t know exactly what, but I guess some part of me has definitely changed, and it has happened for a reason,” he says.

Among other things, Shahid adds that he doesn’t “react to random things” now. “I feel like I’m in a good rhythm... I feel the need to make every opportunity count today.”

I’m not a boy anymore... I’ve grown up and understood where my home front is; and that’s where my priorities are SHAHID KAPOOR, ACTOR