It’s a fact one can’t stress enough. Arjun Kapoor comes from two generations of producers. It’s in his genes. Ergo, he thinks like one. Also, as an actor who has seen both highs and lows and tried out a variety of roles, he has a fair idea of where and why his generation is where they are. He’s measured in his words, aware in his take on his life and career.
We quizzed him on why he thinks the industry still rely on the Khans for blockbusters and why the new generation has no superstars within its ranks yet. Here’s what he had to say...
Karan Johar recently said that the industry lacks new superstars and so, general box-office revenues aren’t on par with blockbusters. Your take.
I don’t think there will ever be a time when the Khans would stop making money. They are timeless and they are definitely the ones responsible for a huge chunk of the industry revenue every year. But yes, I understand what you mean. The interpretation of being a superstar also changes, no? We are available to you constantly. Whether you go to watch a film or to a restaurant or to a friend’s house, we are omnipresent. To both the audiences and the media, especially because of social media. We are not stars because they know what we are doing all the time, except when we go to the bathroom. That’s pretty much the only space where we aren’t available.
So, instant accessibility has taken away the superstar sheen?
The shine has gone somewhat, the aura has become more normal. People also appreciate us for being ordinary. There’s a change in psyche. The stars already exist and people already have their own gods. They don’t need any more of them. They aren’t looking for demi-gods. They are looking for that one feeling where they think, ‘Arre! Yeh toh apne jaisa hai’. Ranveer and I have clicked with audiences because we kind of have a relatability factor with what we do. It’s very difficult to become a star in five years because we aren’t always doing films that appeal to all audiences. Till you aren’t doing mass-centric cinema, you cannot become a superstar in this country, no matter what people say. It’s very, very difficult to penetrate into that zone. So when I’m shooting in Mandwa, I know I need to connect even more with that audience. They have seen Ishaqzaade because it was from a small town, they have watched Gunday because it had all those elements. But watching two films won’t make me a star. They haven’t watched Ki & Ka, I know it. They need to want to watch all my films. Also, we predominantly make films for the multiplex audience and not single- screen ones, the penetration will take us five more years. For us to assume star status will take more time and we have to survive as well.
Do you think it’s also about the choices of films that young actors are making?
Obviously. Films need to be entertainers. We have to make more entertainers, which we aren’t doing at the moment, because we shy away from them. A lot of people of our generation are into performance-driven roles and don’t want to do the quintessential masala films that will make us sure-shot superstar. Now, that’s also fair. You need to be comfortable in that genre also. To each his own. I have grown up in a filmi culture, so I might be more excited about this kind of films. XYZ might not and you can’t blame them for it. So, I don’t think the star culture has faded, but the thought has changed for sure. The normalcy of being an actor is there. But I agree with Karan. We do lack superstars. Hrithik is definitely the last superstar we had. We are judged from film to film. We are more actors than stars. We aren’t beyond our films. But I will be an optimist and put my neck to say, we will emerge. Maybe it will take longer than it took Hrithik to be a star. He became an overnight superstar right after his first film. We might need 10 films. Let’s hope that happens.
