Arjun Kapoor believes says he’s ‘a bit underrated’ as an actor: ‘Craft is not given its due in mainstream cinema’
Actor Arjun Kapoor has stood out in an otherwise lackluster affair that was Ek Villain Returns. The actor sat down with for a conversation about how he feels craft is not given enough credit in mainstream cinema and questions why his generation of actors is divided into groups based on the kind of films that they’ve succeeded in.
Arjun talks about how he has always aspired to be an all-rounder. He has done films in various genres and worked with some of the finest filmmakers. “The aspiration is to try and do all sorts of films and yet remain mainstream, and engage the cerebral audience. So I chase that balance. I’ve always inspired to dabble in both the worlds, but impulsively people tend to tag me in the mainstream category. If you look at the kind of work I’ve done, I’ve also meandered into finding myself pushing myself into Finding Fanny and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar and now Lady Killer.”
Arjun feels he is underrated as an actor and wonders why his mainstream hero appeal is perceived that he doesn’t work on his skills. “I feel I am generally a bit underrated and more of an underdog when it comes to performance. People imagine that I am a better mainstream hero. But I guess it is the culture and nature of of this business, where sometimes, because of the lineage you come from, or the kind of expressive nature you have off camera where you’re unabashedly filmy, and I am kind of unapologetically that, so maybe that kind of takes more precedence over your regard for the purity of cinema. But I have both in equal measure.”
Arjun has been an actor for ten years and has a fantastic line-up to look forward to. He makes a point that and actor’s skill should not be perceived alone on basis of the kind of films they do.
He says, “The problem is, right now to be able to speak about craft. I’ve not heard one person having an actual conversation about craft when it comes to the media or social media about an actor, per se. I feel people who are discussing craft don’t know it themselves. The craft they’ve learnt is clickbait, and it is an easy craft, it means talking negatively about everything. What’s tougher is to have two lines written with logical sense. At some point, critics and commercialism need to align a little more.”
“Films can go wrong, when bigger films go wrong there is more conversation around it. But that’s also craft, you can’t take that away from it. Avengers, people think there is no acting involved in it, it is ridiculous. How can commercial cinema not be considered as craft? Craft is important in cinema and I work very hard on my craft. It has paid off, but have enough people seen it? So when people question my craft, they must have not seen Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar because it wasn’t commercial enough. But when they see my commercial films, the perception created is that it doesn’t need craft. People need to realise that craft is an important aspect in all kinds of films. The problem is that if you’re deviating from mainstream, only then your craft is considered,” he says.
Arjun then talks about how his generation of actors is divided based on the kind of films they do.
He says, “Our generation of actors is very fearless, we’ve attempted far more than people give us credit for; we have faced a lot more than people give us credit for. We’ve stood up and become stars as what people call us, and they continue liking us. However, a perception has been created and it is shown that we are not good enough or we’re not doing our work right, but that’s not true. There must be something right in our craft that we’re being accepted the audience.”
“But there’s always scope to learn and I think I am good at accepting criticism. I’ve read enough reviews and I learn from them. But in general, the aura created around the younger crop of Hindi film actors tends to be that we don’t quite get it. We do, and that’s how we’ve survived for ten years. Can we do better? we must! I believe Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar changed that perception for me, for all the faces involved in the film, and I am very proud of it,” he adds.
“I love that Ayushmann Khurrana is so good in Bala, or Rajkummar Rao in Bareilly Ki Barfi and I love Vicky Kaushal in Masaan, but does that mean Varun Dhawan works less hard for the films, or Ranbir Kapoor is less energetic in a commercial films? It is tricky sometimes that our generation gets divided and split into a group which don’t even ex. I am sure all these actors are equally enjoying commercial cinema when they get a chance and we also love it when we get a so-called non-commercial film. But this demarcation is created and some get away with it even when they are not doing their best, and a lot of us face flack if our films don’t work,” he concludes.
