‘PEOPLE DON’T SPARE EVEN VIRAT KOHLI AND OUR HONOURABLE PM’
Hitting out at trolls, actor Arjun Kapoor says people nowadays ‘find happiness by putting others down’; adds social media chatter doesn’t affect films’ business
Nowadays, actors and filmmakers are forced to contend with a new challenge of sorts — trolls. And Arjun Kapoor is no different. But the actor refuses to lose sleep over it, as he feels it has become the order of the day.
“People don’t spare even Virat Kohli [Indian cricket team captain], our honourable Prime Minister [Narendra Modi], or for that matter, anyone else. Everyone is now a source of humour for people. I guess that’s just the way the world has become. People, now, find happiness by putting others down,” says the actor.
Although, a section of people feel that trolls, in a way, impact a film’s commercial prospects, Arjun doesn’t believe so. “Social media is, anyway, not real. In the past one year itself, we have seen that even if a film got a large amount of [positive] chatter on social media, that didn’t contribute to its box office results. Likewise, the amount of negative chatter some films got also didn’t affect their prospects,” says the actor, who was trolled with memes etc., when his latest film, Panipat’s trailer came out.
The actor adds, “I believe that social media has a section of people who aren’t true cinegoers per se. I don’t think the film-going audience participates in a large number on social media. They are very different kind of people. By now, we are all part of social media. And we know
that it can’t be taken so seriously that we lose sleep over it.”
A few days back, Arjun shared a handwritten poem — which he had written to his late mother, Mona Kapoor, as a kid — with fans on his social media accounts. “There are so many things that I would want to share with her but I just can’t. So, instead, I share it with the world thinking that maybe, wherever mum is, she will read it, see it or feel it,” he says.
Talking about his film, Arjun points out his personal connection with filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker and his 2001 hit, Lagaan. “As an actor, when you make a list of things you want to achieve, you are like, ‘period film karunga.’ Also, Ashu sir made Lagaan, and mum had loved it. So, she would have been happy to know that I worked with him. Or she would have loved to see that I am teaming up with a female director [Kaashvie Nair on his next with Rakul Preet Singh]. The day I posted the letter, I was shooting for Panipat, and felt that mum would have loved the story [of the film]. So, I put up the poem that Anshula [Kapoor; sister] had shared with me that day itself,” concludes the actor.
There are many things that I’d want to share with my mum, but I can’t. So, I share it with the world thinking that maybe, wherever mum is, she’ll read it.
ARJUN KAPOOR ACTOR