Shahid Kapoor says he ‘felt extremely bad’ when he was tagged as chocolate boy, dad Pankaj Kapur’s advice helped him: ‘Jis din acting karna…’

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“I just don’t like doing the same thing again and again. I know for many stars, not actors, that is the formula to success. Maybe from a very business-oriented mindset, from the mindset of collections or numbers, reliability mindset, I guess that makes a lot of sense. I am not that guy.  I am fundamentally creative at heart.

“I didn’t take this job up to make safe decisions, to play safe and do the same thing again and again. I wanted to do something new and challenging every time, I wanted to not know how something will turn out and go through the journey of discovery. I am ok to fail, i don’t have a problem, because it teaches you a lot,” the actor told Bollywood Hungama.

Shahid said in the industry, it is one’s long-term growth that defines their career trajectory. “In today’s times people are thinking very short term, everybody has a two-three year plan. .. Growth only happens if you do things you haven’t done before.”

Recalling the reaction his debut film Ishq Vishq had generated, Shahid said he was dubbed as a “chocolate boy”, a term he disliked. Shahid said he found the title limiting, as he wanted to be an artiste and not someone for “visual gratification”.

“When I did Ishq Vishq, the word that was associated with me was ‘chocolate boy.’ I felt extremely bad, I wondered what did that even mean, ye chocolate boy hota kya hai? I am an artiste, I want to express, I am not here only for visual gratification. Looking good, dressing well etc are just one layer, then you have to dig deep and I started doing just that. I completely changed myself, I didn’t want to be clean shaven and do the same thing. That became exciting for me.

“My father told me, beta jis din acting karna shuru kar doge, sher ke muh me khoon lag jayega. You will derive the most happiness from that. Somewhere in the middle of my career, this happened with me. So now I just want that– even though I am vegetarian,” he added.

The actor will be next seen in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. The romantic comedy, co-starring Kriti Sanon, is set to release on February 9.