Shahid Kapoor: Working on building equations with people

Highlights

• Actor Shahid Kapoor, who will be seen next in Phata Poster Nikhla Hero releasing this week, has not been able to impress the box-office in the recent past but is hopeful of better days ahead.
• Post Badmaash Company in 2010, the 32-year-old's films have not done well at the box office and he thinks his time is not right.
• "I feel when the time is right almost every decision you make seems right. And my time is not right and all my decisions don't seem to go right. Because the time when you sign a film and till the time the film gets made it is a long journey. Once I have taken a decision I have always stood by it... regardless of the final outcome," Shahid said.
• "I think I should not change myself according to my films irrespective of how they fare. I must stay true to myself. I am a creative person and my job is to act."
• The actor does feel he has done less number of films and now his focus is to do more good and quality work.
• "I think I have done less work and this is something I needed to focus on. And I am working on building equations with people. I want to work with directors whom I can completely submit myself to. I think that is very important.
• Rajkumar Santoshi, Prabhu Deva, Vishal Bharadwaj are the kind of filmmakers I can trust blindly and follow," he said.
• "As an actor you have to make an effort to build equation with the people you work with. It is not a forced effort. But you need to take certain steps to make the team invest in you and you invest in them."
• After the phenomenal success of Jab We Met in 2007, Shahid had said he will be ultra choosy about his work.
• "Sometimes being ultra choosy works in your favour sometimes it doesn't. After Vivah I sat at home for six months and then did Jab We Met and this film worked so I was choosy about works. After that my next two films did not do well so I was like this (being choosy) doesn't work," he said.
• "I don't think you can really have a plan. I don't think there is any set plan that an actor can have. The more time you spend here (in Bollywood), the more you realise you should not take yourself seriously.
• "An actor needs to be like clay, he needs to allow other people to mould him as this adds variety," the actor added.
• Speaking about his film 'Phata Poster Nikla Hero' directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, Shahid said the action comedy, which releases this Friday, will present him in a new avatar. "It is out an out a masala entertaining character, which I haven't played earlier. I haven't said massy one liners, tapori songs etc...this zone is different for me. The most challenging part was to adapt to this genre," the actor said. Shahid was all praise for Santoshi, who according to him, is also a good actor and he just followed his instructions. In the film, Shahid will be seen as an ardent fan of Salman Khan. Shahid said in real life too, he is a fan of the 'Dabangg' star and hence there was no difficulty in playing this part.
• "Our generation is a huge fan of all three Khans...we all have seen their films. I have seen a lot of hysterical fans and this time it was exciting that I got chance to play a fan. I have played a hyper and desperate fan."
• Ekta Kapoor-produced film Milan Talkies has been in the news for a while now, mainly because of speculation regarding its lead actor. Earlier, the film was supposed to have Imran Khan in the lead, but a few days back Shahid's name started doing the round.
• Shahid, who has completed a decade in Bollywood, set the record straight, saying the film has been offered to him but he hasn't signed it yet.
• The Ishq Vishk actor thinks film promotions are important in today's era as the market is growing, so actors have to go all out and promote their work.
• "If anybody of my generation thinks they have reached out to the entire country they are stupid. There is a large audience who still doesn't know much about us. The generation ahead of us, like Khans and others, are working for 25 years and so everybody is aware of their work. For our generation it is extremely important to promote a film," he added.