Arjun Kapoor is probably one in all those lucky few actors from the younger crop who has been paired with leading ladies of his age as well as actors from the senior lot. From Parineeti Chopra in Ishaqzaade (2012) and Namaste England (2018), and Alia Bhatt in 2 States (2014), to Priyanka Chopra in Gunday (2013) and Kareena Kapoor in Ki & Ka (2016), Arjun has had the best of both worlds.
Asked if he noticed any major difference working with the experienced set of actors vis-à-vis a co-star his age, he says, “Of course, everybody with expertise can restore, more relaxed, and more able to take direction, happier to deal with whatever comes their way. When you are young, you typically don't seem to be able to trot out everything; you react to everything happening around you. But, when you are a bit sorted and slightly more experienced, you're calmer through everything.”
However, the actor doesn’t want to dismiss the actual fact that he ought to work with Alia and Parineeti when they too were beginning out their several journeys in films. “So I have worked with a different Alia. Today, after seven years, I’m sure she’s a different person. Likewise, Kareena and Priyanka must have been different people when they started out and were newcomers in Bollywood,” Arjun Kapoor adds.
Arjun Kapoor isn't reluctant to admit there’s definitely a fundamental difference which can’t be overlooked. “The one factor I will spin and positively say is that there's an ace and spontaneity that Bebo and PeeCee have within the first and second take, that could also be a Parineeti and Alia would need 3 takes. That’s the only difference. Kareena and Priyanka would be able to pick up directions faster and react quicker to a director. But that’s just a very vague way of putting it,” says the actor, who asserts it’s the only experience that makes a person wiser in an art form because “you kind of know what mistakes not to make. But, one can only reach there by making those mistakes. So, it’s a very strange thing to compare.”
Elaborating his purpose, he says, “For Parineeti to have Priyanka’s experience, she must bear her own experiences. For Alia to have that sort of spontaneity that she reacts to a situation the moment she hears the director’s instructions, she has to go through her experience. And only then she will be able to reach a stage where how Kareena Kapoor is today — in one or two takes — provides precisely what the director wants. So, you have to be young and vulnerable to be mature and composed is the way of life.”
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