Shahid Kapoor on 20 years of Ishq Vishk, two decades in Bollywood: ‘I hold on to the innocence that I started with’

Shahid Kapoor, in a recent chat, expressed his gratitude for surviving the industry for two decades. He also shared how he came from Delhi, with no idea of how to pursue his dream. He joined dance and was modeling when the film happened. The actor looked back at his career and called it a ‘learning curve’.

Talking further about how he has grown and evolved but he has held on to certain qualities. Shahid said, “A lot in me has changed but certain fundamentals are very much the same. I hold on to that innocence that I started with. Yes, it goes away sometime, and then you have to connect with it again and then bring it back. It has to be always at the forefront. I really believe if you want to be good at anything, you have to be a student. You have to be curious, learn and evolve, that is the only way to be alive. You have to stay connected with yourself, stay young at heart, and also don’t take yourself too seriously. I have worked on myself in this department in the last few years. I have really tried to be like that.”

After Ishq Vishk, Shahid was touted as the ‘chocolate boy’ as he did a number of romantic films. He has successfully broken out of it, as in fans’ words, he’s in his dark phase now. Reflecting on the same, the actor said, “I was dying to break out of it. Honestly, I really don’t like tags. Now that people are saying I am good with grey characters, I don’t want to do it. Predictability is not an option for me. I want to do different kinds of films, different kinds of characters, and never be predictable. I start getting irritated by myself otherwise. When I shoot, I sometimes feel what am I doing, I have done that before. It’s also a good thing, as you also enjoy doing what people like seeing you do. But it’s also important to bring something fresh to the table.”

In an old interview with us, Shahid had also spoken about how he was extremely nervous on the first day of his shoot. Talking about his first day on Ishq Vishk set, he had shared, “I was very nervous! I was nervous every day of that film. I think we took about 11-12 retakes in the first shot.” Delving into how he’d bagged the project, he shared, “I gave auditions, I was rejected. Then I gave another set of auditions. And again I was rejected. Then I did a third round of auditions. Then I did dancing auditions. And then, I got the film. It was a long process before I got it.”