Arjun Kapoor appeared as the star guest in the first episode of PeepingMoon.com’s special segment, Let’s Talk Season 3 Part 2 with Managing Editor Ankita Bhalla. In the exclusive heart-to-heart conversation, the actor spoke about his physical transformation and taking on the online trolls head on with humour and sarcasm.When asked about his physical transformation, Arjun said that it was more to do with feeling good about himself and having a sense of responsibility towards his audience.
He said, “When I started my career I looked a certain way and I created an understanding with the audience that ‘Arjun looks like this and will look like this as per the demands of the character’. When you set that base with the audience they expect that and there is nothing wrong in that because they are giving their hard-earned money to come and watch your film but slowly slowly I started working more and more and it wasn’t that I was lazy or I wasn’t bothered, I just was not taking care of myself and I lost my way physically because of which you lose your way mentally and emotionally also in the long run, and especially in this profession you don’t get any off days, you have to take care of yourself despite the fact of all that is going on in your life. You just can’t say that I need six months off to take care of myself, you have to have that balance; I didn’t; I got too caught up in myself, listen, I’m not saying that I lost a parent or got overnight success and didn’t have people around me to share it with but there were multiple reasons, so I lost my equilibrium of the work-life balance as they call it, taking care of yourself, putting yourself before your work and your people around. I struggled and I suffered and so did my work and so did the audience in the way they looked at me because there was a sense of disappointment.”
He further said, “Half Girlfriend opened at Rs 10 crore and then Mubarakan at Rs 5 crores and within two months there was a huge change in the shift in the perception that , ‘Hey he is not looking the way he is supposed to’. People will not spend money on Day 1, they will go for the film for what it was, they eventually saw Mubarakan for what it was but it wasn’t as if they were jumping in theatres and that was on me. I cannot control the fate of the film but I can definitely attract them to come and watch it because I am in it which was happening before that. I didn’t take that hint at that point, I still said, ‘nahi nahi thik ho jayega, abhi better ho jayega’.”
Arjun further added and said, “So when the lockdown happened, it finally dawned upon me that I need to take care of myself because the audience wants me to and I want to make films for the rest of my life whether it is as an actor or a director or a producer, but I want to engage with the audience and earn their respect. I will not say that I want all of them to become may fan but you need a connect, a izzat and respect in earned in this country through hard work. There is no one who can discard your hard work. I said, ‘I will work upon myself’ the same way I did 10 years back to become an actor and people loved me for it, so I said ‘I’ll do it again this time and earn respect for it if not love. Love can come from films’. I need to be in this frame of mind and in this frame of body and today I’m really happy. I feel good so I know that I’m comfortable, I wanted to be able to represent myself in the best way possible because the journey started from there, films are an important part as I need to look good for them but I need to feel good, like I keep saying that I’m a work-in-progress and if I can achieve it for the second time in my life then I feel anyone can achieve that as well. As long as I can motivate and inspire people to think in that direction then I think it’s half the battle won.”
Arjun was asked how he is able to take on trolls in his trademark humorous way and does the online bashing bow him down. To this the actor said, “I think you need to have some humour to deal with the negativity in life, you can’t get bogged down by it. It’s not as if I don’t get affected by life but I’m quite practical so I take criticism for criticism and I can catch a troll from a distance because mujhe neeyat pata hoti hai, unki writing se hi samajh sakte ho ki inko maza aa raha hai likhne mein, inka koi wajood nahi hai, koi identity nahi hai, yeh log sirf apne doston ke saath baith kar giggle kar rahein hai inko farak nahi padta ki aap dekho ya na dekho they just want to have access to you because they don’t realize that I will type this outside their building and leave it unke bare mein and who barbad ho jayenge, unke parents unko maar maar ke dhajjiyan uda denge as they have done something that has got them this negative response so you need to catch them at it. You can’t let people believe that we are there only to poke fun at, we are human beings, we have a right to reply and whenever I see fit I do reply, sometimes curtly sometimes with humour. I’m by nature somebody who has battled obesity all my life with humour, I have dealt my life with humour, I am able to hold a conversation because of my humour, so my mind and my wit, I’ve got the gift of banter, I can take on anybody and I always tell them ki saamne aakar baat karke dikha do toh main maanoon. I don’t see any reason why we should take it lying down all the time.”
(Transcribed By: Vandana Srivastawa)
