Back from Uttarakhand after a long schedule of Shree Narayan Singh’s Batti Gul Meter Chalu in Tehri, Shahid is getting back his bearings. Going straight from the historical Padmaavat set in the 13th century to the social drama Batti Gul… with its local dialect has been quite the challenge and he’s not afraid to say so…
“It sounds cool but it’s very difficult to pull off. My character is a small-town lawyer, a regular bloke who fights for an issue which so many people in our country are grappling — power cuts and outrageously high electricity bills,” he informs. He also adds that the film is socially relevant even as it entertains – the hallmark of all good cinema.
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He is thoroughly enjoying shooting on location, even though it comes with its lack of comforts. He explains, “Some of my best performances have come from filming in real locations as opposed to shooting at a studio because you feel the character there. When I was driving around Kashmir during Haider, I could feel the heaviness in the air. Similarly, during Udta Punjab, I could see people from our script around me and didn’t have to just draw from my imagination to play Tommy (a drug-addled rockstar). That helps an actor.”
The films he mentions have seen him deliver some of his most astonishing performances – clearly, shooting on location does play a big part in helping him nail the characters. In the past, Shahid had shared that the biggest compliment for him is if people are talking about the characters that he has played. “That for me is achieving something, way beyond anything else.
He explained, “The definition of cinema is the ‘willing suspension of disbelief’, where you choose to suspend the knowledge of the fact that what you are watching is not true. So when you can achieve that, it is amazing.”
Yes, Shahid Kapoor is pretty darn amazing!
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