Aparshakti Khurana feels stardom has changed over the years, says 'we have lost the charm now' | Exclusive

Aparshakti Khurana has mostly been seen in comedic roles in films, but he has surprised everyone with his intense and serious performance as Binod Das, who becomes the superstar Madan Kumar in Vikramaditya Motwane-directed period drama series Jubilee, set around the Hindi film industry in the late 1940s and 1950s.

In an interview with DNA, as Aparshakti himself plays a superstar in the late 1940s, we asked him if he feels stardom has remained constant or changed over the years. The actor said, "The word stardom, or the definition of stardom, is not really relevant anymore majorly because of the approachability of all the actors towards the audience. Social media has, in a way, bridged that gap."

Khurana, who is also a radio jockey, television host, singer, and music composer, further stressed the fact that the quantity of A-listers has increased to an enormous extent in the present era. "Also, in that era or decade, there used to be only four stars or the big actors. Now, there are thirty to forty A-listers only. If we have Ranbir Kapoor, there is Ranveer Singh. If there is Varun Dhawan, there is Ayushmann Khurrana. There is Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Ajay Devgn, you will keep counting. There was exclusivity in that era like only a particular star could give a massive hit. Now, the quantity of A-listers has increased. I believe this could be the reason we have lost the charm of stardom", he said.

"Also, in that era, only a few people were considered music icons. Now, from Arijit Singh to AR Rahman to Diljit Dosanjh, they have such a huge fan following. Now, these are also stars. And hence, the word stardom doesn't fit in the current scheme of things", the actor concluded.

Apart from Aparshakti Khurana, the ten-episodic series Jubilee also stars Prosenjit Chatterjee, Aditi Rao Hydari, Wamiqa Gabbi, Sidhant Gupta, Nandish Sandhu, Ram Kapoor, and Arun Govil among others. The show, written by Atul Sabharwal, is streaming on Prime Video.

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