Shahid Kapoor on OTT projects Farzi and Bloody Daddy: ‘Being a star doesn’t make you like across the board’

Shahid Kapoor's OTT debut web series Farzi and his film Bloody Daddy, which released on the JioCinema platform, both have become most watched projects in their respective categories.

Shahid Kapoor made his OTT debut with web series Farzi. (Pic: Shahid/Instagram)

Shahid Kapoor was last seen in Bloody Daddy. (Photo: Shahid/Instagram)

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Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor, who is two decades old in the Hindi film industry, ventured into the realm of OTT with director duo Raj and DK’s web series Farzi in 2023. Later in the year, he further solidified his digital presence with the release of the film Bloody Daddy, which was also released on an OTT platform. Both of Shahid’s OTT projects have garnered substantial praise from fans and have also established themselves as the most-watched projects in their respective categories. In a recent interview, the Haider actor opened up on his OTT success and explained why being a star is no guarantee of success across all platforms.

In a recent talk with Hindustan Times, Shahid said, “As an actor, you should not just presume that just because you are a star, people will like you across the board, it doesn’t work like that! The audience has become very mature and clear about who they like. I was keen to see how people respond to me in that space.”

Also read | Shahid Kapoor recalls being written off as a leading man because he didn’t have enough ‘mardaangi’, was told, ‘Tera kuch nahi hone wala’

Explaning himself further, he said, “There are highs and lows which I feel are very opposing in nature. You can see that happening to various actors who are super successful, and nothing is working. It’s important to build a reputation. You really have to think whether you are here for 10 years, 15, or 30 years- you have to understand what game you are playing. Are you running a 100 metre race, or a marathon? As a leading man, it is important to understand how long you want to be here, and if you are playing the big game. Then one or two (low) years here and there should not derail you.”

The key to Shahid’s success on OTT is his set of priorities. The actor keeps ‘audiences’ respect’ above everything else. He said, “I have always craved to have the audiences’ respect. I feel once an artist, whether it’s a filmmaker or actor, even a sportsperson, has the people’s respect, they will be able to create consistency in their graph. Things are very unpredictable.”

According to an Ormax report, Shahid-starrer Farzi, which streamed on Prime Video, amassed 37.1 million viewers, becoming the most-watched Hindi series of the year. On the other hand, Bloody Daddy, reigned supreme as the most-watched Hindi film of the year, garnering 16.6 million viewers on the JioCinema platform.

Shahid Kapoor’s upcoming projects include an untitled romantic comedy, alongside actor Kriti Sanon. The film is in the post-production stage.

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