Star kid Arjun Kapoor grew has grown up knowing the ups and downs of the industry. So the fact that his private life has been under scrutiny of late is not something that bothers the actor too much. Indeed, he believes that life on the radar, should be treated as part of the package of being an actor. Accepting his lot in life, Arjun says, “Before you get into the acting profession, you should know what you are getting into. If you don’t like being in the limelight, then this is not the place for you.”
However, the actor believes that over the years a bond of mutual respect between the media and Bollywood. “If you are respectful and give the right amount of information, then the media doesn’t create a ruckus or keep doing speculative pieces on you. It’s just part of the profession and you need to deal with it diplomatically,” he adds.
Not just the relationship with the media, Arjun also feels that the very definition of stardom has changed over the years. With social media, stars have become much more accessible and the star feels that the mystery that shrouded celebrities has largely dissipated. He says, “We can never recreate the situation of the past era now; everybody is tangible and touchable. That unknown, untouchable aspect of stardom is gone. That happened because they want to know more about us. Stardom hasn’t reduced but the definition of it has changed.”
While many are of the opinion that stars are the reason for loss in business, since they take away a major chunk of the earnings, Arjun, as a producer’s son, shines the light on this issue. “There have been situations in the past where the film has been unsuccessful and producers have not recovered the cost of the chunks of money taken by the actor. But more often than not, actors have returned the money and did their next film for the producer to cover up. The industry’s primary interest is to make money. Any sensible actor will not put that kind of financial load on his film, at least not beyond a certain point,” Arjun said.
The actor, who will now be seen in Mohit Suri’s Half Girlfriend where he comes from a rural background and struggles to speak in English, believes that the movie has a story that needs to be told. He says, “I think it’s very important because we are all so entrenched in Western culture today. In the digital age, Hindi as a language, has got lost somewhere, specially in cities. I feel it is important to know your mother tongue. I am not saying English is bad, but I think people are not giving importance to Hindi because every day its losing usage. Today English has become a necessity. I cannot blame anyone for that but it’s rather unfortunate.”
