One of bollywood’s most successful ‘chocolate’ actors has finally shed his onscreen image of a fun-loving, cute heartthrob.

Instead Shahid Kapoor’s fans are now presented with a six pack-wielding (and therefore much hotter), multiple speech impairment-bearing, intrigue inspiring persona in Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey.

The star himself concedes that his look in his first release this year departs from his norm: “Both the roles I play in the film had their own unique challenges. Charlie’s physique was very different from my personal appearance. Vishal and I were keen to do something radically different with Charlie’s look, and we wanted audiences to see the character and say – ‘Wow, is that really Shahid Kapoor? Never seen him like this before!’ It nearly took me a year to change the look of my body.”
Toned physique aside, there were several other aspects of himself the star had to work on before Kaminey hit the floor.

For one, both the characters he plays - twin brothers Charlie and Guddu - suffer from speech defects. While one stutters, the other has a prominent lisp.
Now any Indian movie buff will be able to tell you that more often than not, Hindi films seem to derive some sort of sadistic pleasure in mocking characters with lisps - if the director is looking for comic relief, he simply has to insert a character with this particular defect, and voila, a guaranteed laugh-a-second.

But Bharadwaj and Kapoor’s intentions were quite different from the start; “We didn’t want this to end up looking like a caricature in any way. Traditionally in Hindi films stammering usually amuses people. We were very clear that we did not want that to happen. Vishal is very particular about not making fun of people’s physical deformities.

“So we met up with ENT specialists and did thorough research on the subject of both stammering and lisping,” notes Kapoor.

Brewing romance
Unfortunately the actor’s verbosity takes a slight hit when his relationship status is mentioned.

Rumours that Kaminey’s two leads - Kapoor and fellow star Priyanka Chopra - have been discreetly seeing each other have been doing the proverbial rounds. But whether or not there’s any truth to them is something the actor refuses to comment on.
“Three years ago I took the decision not to discuss my personal life and I don’t plan to do so now. When there is something substantial to talk about, i.e. if I fall in love with someone, people will know about it,” promises Kapoor.

Coming Soon
Meanwhile the actor’s next major release, Yash Raj’s Dil Bole Hadippa, which is being touted as Rani Mukherjee’s comback venture, is slated for a mid September opening. And December will see him in Ken Ghosh’s currently untitled film (formerly named Yahoo).
Also ready for release is Paathshala, in which Kapoor plays the role of a teacher. The movie is directed by his friend Ahmed which is why the actor agreed to shoot for the half-an-hour long role.

“Right now I’m shooting for Yash Raj Films’ next one, which is directed by Parmeet Sethi. I will wind that up by December so that should release early next year. So I have my hands full for the coming months!” he enthuses.

Short takes

What inspires your sense of style?

My sense of style is very casual, cool, young and sporty. I guess it reflects who I am in real life. At

28, I don’t like to be too formally dressed. Instead I prefer looking my age.

What do you look for in a person before getting into a relationship with them?

I don’t have a definite list of things. But its good to be different from each other otherwise things get way too monotonous. Essentially, I am not to demanding in this matter. So feel free to approach me!

Who would you say are the sexiest women in India right now?

Bipasha and Priyanka.

Will you be visiting Dubai anytime soon?

I have always loved Dubai and have shot for a lot of my films there. With so many Indians there one

doesn’t miss home. I hope to be back very soon for the promotion of Kaminey, if plans work out!

Being a movie buff, what catches your fancy?

I am a film buff and have watched everything from Satyajit Ray and GuruDutt to Quentin Tarantino,

Martin Scorsese and everything in between!

davina@khaleejtimes.com