Shahid Kapoor on facing bullying in Mumbai, wasn’t accepted: ‘Bollywood people have a big problem with outsiders’

He shed light on the challenges of lacking established connections within the industry, a reality for many newcomers. Shahid, recently seen in Teri Baaton Mein Uljha Jiya, emphasised that he doesn’t subscribe to the ‘campy’ mindset. “I don’t like this campy thing. I feel that people who want to creatively collaborate with each other, should. People are comfortable with each other, should. But that doesn’t mean you diss other people or put other people down or you close the doors to other people. And I think that that’s something which does happen in this fraternity (sic),” urged Shahid.

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Shahid recalled the initial struggles stemming from his distinctive Delhi accent during his early days in Mumbai, stating, “Maybe I don’t have the qualities to be a campy person. I was from Delhi, came to Mumbai, and I wasn’t accepted in my class. I was the outsider because of my different accent, and I faced mistreatment for a long time.”

Reflecting on the bullying he endured as a newcomer, Shahid asserted, “I hate being bullied, and I didn’t have the confidence as a kid. But now, if you try to bully me, I will bully you right back. I hate the bully, I bully the bully. This is no filter, Shahid.”

Taking a trip down memory lane, Shahid shared that upon arriving in Mumbai, he lived in a rented house, shifting every 11 months. “I would be in a new building, trying to make friends with people who didn’t know me. I went to Shiamak (Davar) and college, where I finally felt accepted and had my own group before becoming an actor with Ishq Vishq Pyaar Vyaar in 2013,” said the 43-year-old.  

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Last year during Pinkvilla Masterclass, Shahid, while answering why has chosen to do fewer films in a two-decade long career, the Kameeney actor, had said, “I ask myself very often. But everybody’s destiny is different. Everybody’s life is different. The way things come to you will be different. I am an outsider in the industry from the point of view that my father (Pankaj Kapur) was an actor but I never told anybody that he was my dad because I lived a lot in Delhi and I came to Bombay later in life and my father had always told me that, ‘Beta maine kabhi kisi ko nahi bataya ki mere father kaun hai, toh tum kyu bologe. Kaam se dikhao. (Let your work prove to people that you are worthy. Not your name.’ So of course I have come from a family of acting but my father was the first actor in the family, first of all (sic).”