Shahid Kapoor on working with Vishal Bhardwaj - again - in Rangoon
Shahid Kapoor found himself in a precarious situation while shooting Rangoon, his third collaboration with Vishal Bhardwaj. On sets in the scenic Arunachal Pradesh, the actor had to vie for the filmmaker’s attention.
“I’m possessive of him and emotional about him,” said Kapoor. “For me to share him with other people was difficult. I used to feel very ignored sometimes. I used to tell him that you are not interested in me anymore. I am just a bystander.”
Before you think Kapoor’s quip is directed towards his co-stars Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan keeping Bhardwaj occupied, he clarifies that isn’t the case. “In Rangoon, he had a lot of things he had to focus on,” said Kapoor. “There was nothing very challenging about working with any of my costars. I had fun.”
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| Rangoon is Vishal Bhardwaj’s biggest budget film to date. |
Rangoon is unlike other Bhardwaj films for many reasons. Firstly, Shakespeare is no longer the inspiration. Instead it marks Bhardwaj’s first foray into period territory with a World War II set romantic drama which also incorporates India’s freedom struggle.
It is also Bhardwaj’s biggest budget film to date with Sajid Nadiadwala stepping in as producer to fund his epic vision. Kapoor recalled how Nadiadwala told the filmmaker how this would be his “most commercial film”, which Kapoor reads as “his most accessible film”. (No Bhardwaj film till date has crossed the Rs 100 crore mark.)
Said Kapoor, “It is a very different zone for Vishal Sir. He has always said that it is definitely something that he has not attempted before, that this one is going to be different from what we have done in the past.”
Talking about his character in the film — Shahid plays soldier Nawab Malik — he said that he is “a patriot, very proper, very strong and he works with a purpose and that purpose is selfless”.
Given that Bhardwaj has given Kapoor his career-defining roles in Kaminey and Haider, expectations are sky high from Rangoon too. Kapoor said, “I look at him more as a mentor. I don’t see him as a partner because he is way too established. I don’t think I would put myself in the same category as him. I am privileged to be working with him and under him.”
Asked about the difference between working with Bhardwaj and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, with whom Kapoor is working on Padmavati, Kapoor called them poles apart. But there is one thing they do have in common.
“They don’t provide you roles which are a breeze to do,” he said. “They don’t give you characters where you can just express and be yourself. It is intense, layered, deep, exciting, challenging and new space.”
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)