It's about survival of fittest not quickest: Arjun Kapoor on career

Arjun Kapoor does not feel threatened by the competition in the industry as he says unlike others, he is fortunate to have the option to pick and choose his films and directors.

Arjun, 30, is into his fourth year in Bollywood and is content with the pace of his career, which features hits like “Ishaqzaade”, “2 States” and not-so successful movies including “Aurangzeb”, “Gunday” and “Tevar”.

The actor says rather than being bothered by others bagging better roles and films than him, he prefers to concentrate on his own career.

“I have never felt that way. I am among the fortunate few 10-12 people who can be selective about their work and choose who they want to work with and what they want to do. I am very blessed to be in the profession, to be loved,” Arjun told PTI.

“I have the ability to pick and choose where and what I want to do. I still have that option in hand which a lot of actors don’t have. So, why will I feel pressure seeing other’s work? I concentrate on my work.”

For Arjun, having a long film career is important as opposed to a quick rise to fame and an equally sudden fall.  The actor says he wants to sustain long enough to be able to play the main lead in films till the age of 46.

“It is a very long race. The shelf life of an actor is 30 years and 20 years as main lead. I started at 26 and till about 46 I want to play the lead. In the first four years, I can’t think of being competitive, I have to just cement my place, lay a foundation to build on.

“It is survival of the fittest not quickest. You can rise but you have to sustain. I have been rising very, very slow and I prefer it like that,” the actor says.

Arjun was at the receiving end after the failure of his 2014 film “Tevar”, produced by his father Boney Kapoor, with many even writing him off as an actor. He managed to silence critics with his recent release “Ki and Ka”, which fared well at the box office.

The actor, however, remains unfazed by his unsuccessful films or the bashing by critics as he says he never dwells on on the negativity and has accepted that failure is an integral part of an actor’s life.

“I just want to keep doing my work. Hits and flops are part of every actors life. No actor is complete without failure. But yes it is always positive to have a hit. It is not about what others feel but you need to feel happy about what you do.”

Arjun says he wants to build on the success of “Ki and Ka” and is working hard on his next film “Half Girlfriend”, which is based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel of the same name.

This is the second collaboration between Arjun and Bhagat, with the actor having previously starred in the film adaptation of author’s other novel “2 States”.

“I am fully engrossed in prepping for the film. I have become the go-to guy for Chetan’s novels. It’s nice because he writes for every man in India and to get to represent that as as an artiste is quite a compliment. This film is an exciting space to be because it has got all elements to be a pan-India thing, yet it is urban, contemporary and speaks of a relevant issue at the same time,” he says.

The film, to be directed by Mohit Suri, will feature Shraddha Kapoor opposite Arjun. It will go on floors next month in the Capital. “Half Girlfriend” is a story of a Bihari boy in quest of winning over the girl he loves. Arjun says the film is a mix of “Ishaqzaade” and “2 States”.

Talking about his role, the actor says, “He is a guy from a different world. Yet he has got the vulnerability. It is going to be a very new performance.”