‘Love is a tricky thing’: Shahid Kapoor on ‘Teri Baaton Main Aisa Uljha Jiya’

“The beard took clip to grow!” remarks Shahid Kapoor arsenic we speech astir the agelong clip it has taken for him to germinate from person lad to an aggravated actor. After proving his versatility with several films and astir precocious with the OTT series Farzi, this week, Shahid returns to the romanticist terrain with a sci-fi twist successful  Teri Baaton Main Aisa Uljha Jiya (TBMAUJ) where helium serenades a humanoid played by Kriti Sanon.

Edited excerpts from an interview:

Your look seems to person been made to evoke the innocence of romance... How bash you woody with that?

I person been moving for 2 decades. Even during the archetypal 12-13 years of my career, determination was an histrion wrong maine that wanted to interruption retired of immoderate benignant of typecasting that radical thin to enactment you in. It took maine a batch of clip to person radical to not interest astir however I look. I utilized to archer them, ‘Don’t spell conscionable by the face. I tin beryllium portion of antithetic stories and represent analyzable characters. Have religion successful maine and let maine to transform,’ and truthful on. Then I went connected to observe antithetic spaces with Kaminey, Haider and Udta Punjab.

Hindi cinema and its heroes were antithetic erstwhile you started out...

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When I started retired successful 2003, our mainstream films were precise filmy. It was besides the clip erstwhile Aamir Khan had conscionable begun breaking trends. He broke distant from the emblematic choices that actors were making and helium made them successful. I was inspired by it. After Jab We Met, when radical saw maine successful this precise circumstantial benignant of image, Vishal (Bhardwaj) sir allowed maine to interruption the mould. He enjoys changing actors’ images. I had to enactment not conscionable connected my acting but besides connected changing the silhouette. I worked precise hard to physically alteration myself from having a boyish look to a manly operation and earthy look. Once that happened, it became easier for maine to find performance-oriented films.

It seems you defy the trappings of stardom...

I judge I should beryllium capable to clasp my ain careless of the tropes and that happens lone if you person acting chops. My superior purpose has ever been to turn arsenic an actor. I ever consciousness that the histrion successful maine makes maine the prima I americium and not that the prima successful maine provides maine with acting opportunities. I believed successful it from the beginning.

With TBMAUJ, you are returning to a abstraction you freed yourself from...

Having done a batch of this and that, radical travel to maine with antithetic kinds of subjects. Doing thing implicit and implicit again bores me. I was trying to interruption distant and this movie popped up and I recovered the conception quirky. It requires to beryllium done close and it needs to autumn correctly for the audience, otherwise, it tin spell precise wrong. We person made what we acceptable retired to make. Within the genre, Kriti and I person tried to reply each our questions. It is an entertainer but a sensible one. It is simply a slice-of-life movie that aims to instrumentality you a decennary oregon 2 up of wherever we are today. You deliberation that it tin ne'er hap but past that is life. It surprises you.

Was determination immoderate situation successful playing the younger you?

I don’t request to bash overmuch to bash this! I asked myself whether I was repeating myself and if determination was thing caller that I could connection successful this space. I haven’t done thing similar this for a fewer years. I did play a assemblage lad successful Kabir Singh and astatine that time, I asked my woman if should I play a assemblage boy. She knew astir the Telugu mentation and she wanted maine to bash the role; she had to archer maine that aesculapian assemblage students are a spot older and that pushed maine to spell for it. But passim the film’s journey, I again realised that cinema has its ain magic. It doesn’t substance beyond the frame. What matters is, wrong the frame, are you buying the idea? Is it sucking you in? Itna logic nahin hai, it is astir a batch of heart.

How has the meaning of emotion changed for you implicit the years?

I person been joined for 8 years. So I americium a small disconnected. Love has ever been a tricky thing, isn’t it? Either you recognize it oregon you don’t. I consciousness the knowing of emotion evolves arsenic you turn successful a relationship. With children, I americium present knowing the antithetic stages of love. It is nary longer main tu aur hamari feelings (You and I and our feelings)

Teri Baaton Main Aisa Uljha Jiyareleases successful theatres connected February 9