Dad’s presence will benefit my performance greatly: Harshvardhan

For younger actors, sharing screen space with their seniors can be intimidating, and that’s likelier when the senior in question happens to be your father. But Harshvardhan Kapoor — all set to aim down the sights in his next role as Olympic Gold medalist, Abhinav Bindra — is more than happy to work with his father, Anil Kapoor, in the biopic. The senior Kapoor is set to take his real life role to the screen in this Kannan Iyer directorial as he portrays Abhinav’s father, AS Bindra, in the film.

Harshvardhan says, “I think my performance is going to benefit greatly from his presence. We can watch the monitor together and he can tell me how I can do something better or differently. Him being in the film is going to get the best out of me.” The actor adds that the casting of the film is not complete yet. “Once the casting is done, it’s going to be an interesting ensemble, because there are a couple of other great roles in the film,” he says.

Meanwhile, the actor is happy with the response to his last project, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, on online streaming platform. And while he never expected the response to be so good, he says his father was sure about it. “I knew when Bhavesh Joshi would come to digital platforms, people would appreciate it, but I never expected such a response. [Dad] knew that the film was good and had the potential to do well on the right platform. He saw it coming. He happens to know about things before they’re going to happen,” says Harshvardhan.

Speaking about preparing for the biopic, which is expected to go on the floors next January or February, the Mirzya (2016) actor says, “I’ve spent time with Abhinav Bindra. He is an introvert. He is quite restrained and does not get carried away by his achievements. He has a very dry sense of humour and keeps his cards close to his chest. Even when the man won the Olympic gold medal, he was so calm.”

Harshvardhan says he’s doing his best to make his portrayal of Bindra as authentic as possible. “I’m trying to figure out how he reacts without being melodramatic, because that’s not what he is. This biopic is going to be an authentic one. We aren’t going to think that this is a Bollywood film and therefore needs to be made in a certain way. We are going to try and stick to the truest representation of his story — the way Abhinav would have wanted it. It will be cinematic in a different way,” he says.