The good the bad the Ugly

A chocolate-lover boy on the celluloid,Shahid was a little stumped when Vishal Bhardwaj approached him with a script titled Kaminey. “I have made this pact with myself – to try different genres,and although it was a very colourful title,I grabbed it because the script and role was fantabulous,” for Shahid,the film showcases a first of many. It’s Vishal’s first commercial flick,Amol Gupte,the man who wrote Taare Zameen Par will reveal the actor in him,Shahid’s had a complete image makeover and is doing a double role for the first time. “Guddu and Charlie. We’ve had films with twin brothers,loving and caring,and here’s a flick where they are at loggerheads,” both poles apart,while Guddu stammers,Charlie has a pronounced lisp. “Ya,main ph ko ph bolta hoon,” he winks. But in no way have we reduced these characters to caricatures,he points out. “We’ve not made fun of people with speech impairment. In fact,a lot of research went into studying the two characters and their way of speaking….from ENT specialists,speech therapists,people with such problems,we met and worked with all of them,” for Shahid,Guddu and Charlie are the protagonists,the heroes of the film,and not comedians.

As the actor answers a volley of questions from the scribes,we’re intrigued to find out why did he sign the film,and what actually makes it so different? “I’d like to quote Gulzarji here,and this is a dialogue in the film too: Mere arzoo kaminey,mere khwab kaminey,ek dil se dosti this,yeh huzoor bhi kaminey.” How true! “All the characters in this film are kaminey,big,small,medium,and in a way this is a perspective,a comment on us for none of us are saints or devils. We all have shades of grey,and a little kamina hidden somewhere in us,” no wonder he said carry your brains along! So,if the film’s that different,why did it run into trouble with the censors? Was it the title? “We really don’t know because we when my family saw it two days back,they felt as compared to other films,there’s hardly any violence or objectionable content in this. We contested the A-certification,and cited the example of Ghajini,and all the Censor Board had to say wa that giving a U/A certificate to Ghajini was a mistake!” Shahid adds how,except the title,there is no abuse or abusive language in the film. “The only other word I can think of is chappad ganjoo!” he laughs.

With his widest release ever (1100 prints),this is pitched as a make or break film for Shahid,and yes,it does make him nervous. “I’m nervous about every release…unlike yesteryears,where a high number of films determine the star status,today a star is the one who does selective,limited films a year,and very few experiment because money rides the game. Saying that,I have my fingers crossed for this,” says Shahid. There’s no doubt how hard he has worked for it. From following a strict exercise regime with trainer Abbas Ali,getting that raw,rugged,street look correct to braving the speech odds and stripping himself off that lover boy image,Kapur’s given his best shot. “It takes patience,more than anything else,” he advises the youngsters to follow the same mantra.

Off the screen,mention the line of link-ups from Amrita Rao,Vidya Balan to Sania,the latest Priyanka Chopra (he says he did not see Love Aaj Kal,but has high expectations from Imtiaz Ali),and the forever Kareena-Saif hiccup,and Mr Kapur is all smiles: “Like my character says,kya karen,choife nahin hai mere paaf!”

With Chandigarh rush back memories of Jab We Met,good food and great family friends. And now that this most googled star has been voted the sexiest vegetarian and will receive the Rajiv Gandhi Achievement Award,his next feat would be: “the biggest kamina of them all.” Dhan-te-nan!