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Arjun Kapoor is receiving rave reviews for his performance as Pinky Dahiya in Dibakar Banerjee's Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. Though the film didn't enjoy a longer run at the box office due to the COVID-19 lockdown, it is garnering much attention on Amazon Prime Video. While Arjun is being hailed for his act, his career as an actor has been through many ups and downs. As he celebrates the much-deserved success of Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, Arjun exclusively spoke to PeepingMoon about being maligned by people. He said that because his films didn't work, his physicality and personal choices were being questioned.
"Because my films didn’t do well, my physicality was being questioned, my personal choices were being questioned, I was being maligned, I became an easy target and I am somebody who has grown up in the industry so I keep my mouth shut and my head down. I don’t give it back the way others do. I’ve always maintained a distance and dignity. It was going in a direction that I could sense that I was being targeted by certain people for fun. Perhaps they don’t realise how much they could have affected me. I’m stronger than that because I have seen hell and come back. But I learnt my lesson and said that I’m going to do this because I believe there is an audience there and I don’t want to get into this trap of believing this silly nonsense in the middle," Arjun told PeepingMoon.
Interestingly, it was Aditya Chopra who suggested Arjun's name to Dibakar for Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. Talking about that Arjun said, "I had told Adi sir that I wanted to do this kind of a film with Dibakar. I wanted to do something in that space after Ishaqzaade. I did Gunday with Adi sir and YRF. He offered me some stuff and when we were talking about it, I told him what I wanted to do and what I am capable of doing if I put my heart and soul into it. Dibakar sir wouldn't have known about it because perhaps at that time, I wasn't doing that kind of film that he could end up consuming. He wouldn't possibly know how inclined I was, (I hate this word), to this side of cinema and what I was capable and willing to do to reach his way of working. In our first meeting, I would like to believe that he was pretty much sold because we spent about 6-8 hours and somewhere maybe that ice-breaking must have made him realise that I am a Dibakar Banerjee actor and not so much a quintessential mainstream actor. I don't blame people for having that misconception but it is unfortunate that I need to meet somebody to change it all the time. People just perceive Boney Kapoor ka ladka hai and does certain kinds of films. My father is the same person who has made Company and I am the same person who has done Aurangzeb and Finding Fanny. There are both ends of the spectrum. My father has done different kinds of films and so have I. Commerce has a way of sticking. Perhaps my directors have been more in the commercial way so Dibakar didn't know any better. After meeting me, his opinion changed. Adi sir deserves credit for believing in me before Dibakar sir. He believed in me since the day I got my first film."
(Transcribed by: Tanmayi Savadi)
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