Pankaj Kapur defends Shahid Kapoor-starrer Kabir Singh: ‘Toxic masculinity exists in society’

In a recent interaction, Pankaj Kapur praised his son Shahid Kapoor’s acting skills and revealed that he had given him little to no training in acting.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | October 5, 2025 06:49 PM IST

3 min read

Shahid Kapoor with father Pankaj Kapur. (Photo: Express Archives)

Though Shahid Kapoor is the son of veteran actor Pankaj Kapur, the actor started at the bottom, working as a background dancer before making his acting debut in the 2003 film Ishq Vishk. Over the years, Shahid has carved a niche for himself and built a loyal fan following. In a recent interaction, Pankaj praised his son’s acting skills and revealed that he had given him little to no training in acting.

Pankaj admitted that Shahid, for the longest time in the beginning of his career, was getting boy-next-door roles, but Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider in 2014 explored the actor’s potential as a serious performer. He told Lallantop, “For a long time, I used to tell him and others that his main potential is drama and that nobody has tapped it. He was getting only sweet boy roles. It was tapped by Vishal Bhardwaj. These films have a big role in bringing forth the actor inside Shahid later. Shahid also became intelligent about which films to do and which to not do. He performed brilliantly in Haider, but he also performed wonderfully in Farzi.”

Pankaj Kapur also lauded Shahid Kapoor’s performance in the controversial film Kabir Singh. “He has also done good work in Kabir Singh,” he said. When asked about the debate around Kabir Singh for glorifying toxic masculinity, he responded, “That is okay because it doesn’t mean that toxic masculinity doesn’t exist. It exists in society and because somebody made a film on it we started objecting it. This is our own outlook.”

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When asked if he has ever trained Shahid, Pankaj said, “No, I never trained him. He once asked for a workshop, so we worked together for 6-7 days. But he got associated with Naseeruddin Shah. He was doing a workshop in Delhi and he was associated with him for sometime.”

Pankaj Kapur also spoke about his kids Sanah Kapur and Ruhaan Kapoor, and how while Sanah has acted in 3-4 films, Ruhaan is still awaiting his debut. When asked if his house is hierarchical, he refused and said, “My kids take decisions independently. There is no hierarchy in our house. They are the boss. I’m not the boss. My kids give me lectures and I’m ready to listen because they are the younger generation. They know more.”

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