Sidharth Malhotra on Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt: ‘We are a generation of actors who are trying new things’

It has been ten years since Karan Johar’s Student of the Year released. With the campus drama, Karan introduced three actors to the Hindi film industry — Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. In an interview with , Sidharth spoke about his decade-old career, his contemporaries and competition.
Talking about his journey in the film industry, Sidharth said, “The ten years that I have been through has been a very upward and downward journey like climbing a mountain. Not one, but many peaks. Going from one peak to another, but always going down first. I think it is a great learning, and something that you can’t avoid. Now in retrospect I realise I am trying to use the learnings from films in every movie that I am doing, or anything I am doing today.”
The actor added, “It doesn’t feel like ten years in this business because you are constantly living somebody else’s life and changing yourself physically and mentally for some or the other character. You put your own personality and personal life on the side at times. You don’t feel itna time nikal gaya. It doesn’t feel like it has been ten years. It still feels like I am coming with the same gusto like I did in my earlier days, to prove my mettle, to try a new film, try a new zone and better myself. But I would say I have definitely learned more about filmmaking.”

Sidharth Malhotra has been a part of critically acclaimed films like Kapoor and Sons and Shershaah in the past decade. However, he’s also experienced lows in his career. ”When you see a project on paper, only with experience you realise what will translate and what will not. There have been some films that have done beyond my expectations and some have not matched up to it. So, that experience only comes when you see things from both the spectrums,” he shared.
Sidharth also opened up about how he was made to feel as if it is the end of the world when his films were not doing well, but he’s grown a thicker skin to combat negativity.
“Now looking back, I realise why the films have taught me so much. It’s because of the fate that they have had. It is all a learning. Sometimes it is the media which makes you feel like it is the end of the world when it is not. It takes a toll on your mental health because every arte is sensitive. It is so subjective that sometimes the audience is divided, sometimes the audience is unanimous in their decision, so it varies. You have to be made of steel in this profession and grow a thicker skin. I am more prepared and excited for the next few decades,” Sidharth said.

In the recently concluded season of Koffee with Karan 7, Varun Dhawan had called Alia Bhatt one of his biggest competitors. On being asked how he looks at his Student of the Year co-stars, Sidharth said that he wants to focus on his work instead of looking at what others are doing.
He said, “I saw a clipping of that episode. It is great. It is his point of view. I have been so embroiled in my own decision making that I have not peeped left or right to see what the other person is doing. Because of the journey that I have had, I feel that the only thing I can do well is do what I have at hand presently which will make my future. I am not trying to be diplomatic at all with this answer. I feel all actors are self-obsessed and self-involved in their own projects. I have always been that, hoping that whatever bits I’ve done in the film should be my best possible. So, I don’t look at what the other person is doing.”

Sidharth Malhotra also says he is inspired the work his colleagues are doing and that in today’s day and age, there is enough space for all to work in harmony and feed on each other’s energies.
“If I can take inspiration from them, then that’s great. Sometimes you get inspired, sometimes you see something that you don’t agree with as an audience. I think there is work for everyone. We are a generation of actors who are trying new things. We have got a new culture as well now. It is different from what it was, maybe twenty years ago. There is enough work and space. If my films are doing well enough, that gives me satisfaction. That alone should be my goal, and not what somebody else is doing,” Sidharth concluded.
Sidharth Malhotra, along with Ajay Devgn, will be seen in Indra Kumar’s Thank God which releases in theatres on October 25.