You become star on the basis of how you deal with failures, says Arjun Kapoor
R Balki’s Ki and Ka proved that good content always gets appreciated. Not only did the film bag good box office numbers but even Arjun Kapoor’s role was lauded. On a sunny afternoon, we catch up with the actor at YRF studios. Completely relaxed, he talks to us about why it’s not fair to treat actors as race horses and why multiplex prices are not helping for the growth of movie business.
What’s your state of mind right now?
I am in a very happy state of mind. I am feeling validated by the audience and feeling vindicated by my selection of the script. These two things that matters most in this business if you want to be lambi race ka ghoda. For script selection, I have a 4 out of 7 ratio which is a pretty good ratio. I am happy that my instinct is leading me in the correct direction.
Don’t you think its only people within the industry and trade who compare an actor’s last film whereas audience don’t really think about a last hit or flop?
Yes of course! It’s only in the writing and the speaking there is a comparative study that this actor’s film worked and the other one didn’t. It’s not even your own career, it is your career compared to another actor’s career. You are not treated as an individual but a commodity. I have always said that you have to nurture new comers who are making unique choices. But what happens is everyone is out there to compare your films and say this one is not good enough, that one is bad. This keeps changing every Friday. You have to find consistency in the way you look at people when you write. We are pitted against each other like race horses. The race is very long and it’s still going on. The Khans are still running the race. The race is never ending but an actor has to find his own groove and his rhythm, find his audience. But that can happen only when people stop comparing you like chana. Yes, but I do agree the audience doesn’t care and they will not stop watching you after one flop. Otherwise Khatron Ke Khiladi also wouldn’t have got the kind of reaction it got. Television is a very ruthless medium and straight up you know whether you have worked or not. I was quietly confident about my ability. If I get shaken up by one flop then I will have to leave the profession. You become star on the basis of how you deal with failures.
But aren’t you sensitive enough to at least feel the jolt?
See, if you don’t feel the jolt then there is something wrong with you. (Laughs) Sometimes you can pre-empt a film on how it will do so you are numb to it. Sometimes you are surprised by the negative reactions it gets. Sometimes you are prepared for it. Sometimes you watch the film and you feel the script was better than the film. Sometimes the film is better than the script. I saw Tevar, I won’t say it’s an outstanding film but I won’t say it’s a bad film. Any other given day and the film would have done another 15-20 cr easily. Going by the wave of mass cinemas and how they work, unfortunately the release date was such that mass cinema had died. The genre had just shut down for the audience and we were the last film. The hero heroine ( Arjun-Sonakshi) had the mass ability but it did jolt me because it was also my home production. Now may be a year and a half later Baaghi has come and it’s in the same space.
A still from the film 'Tevar'.
You think the media in itself gets lost in this game of comparing actors?
Somewhere I think the media has to connect with the audience a little bit more and keep them in mind. I think each film should be treated individually as isolation.
Some films are not about hit and flop but about ‘even this is made in India’.
Do you see a contrasting vision of what you read in media and what the audiences are thinking?
Yes, sometimes. But they are fair most of the time. I am not saying media ko kuch pata nahi. Certain sections are pretty accurate. But there are some sections who write without having done their research. Its like, someone once wrote Gunday is a flop. Now weather you like the film or not, the film did 75 cr + so it cannot be a flop. I can understand you not liking the film but you can’t change the status of the audiences love for the film. That is when I find it silly. A lot of people make me feel that Finding Fanny didn’t do well. It wasn’t a trade box office blockbuster but where does an English film does Rs 30 cr here? You should give credit that we did an experimental film and you can’t even count Finding Fanny in the hit and flop thing. Some films are not about hit and flop but about ‘even this is made in India’. Every film is not going to be 2 States.
Then it must be very hard to understand how to keep up with what the audiences need?
It is. But there are your instincts and impulse while shooting the film which tells you that it is ending in a good space. See if you like the material of the director and it is similar to what it is being made into, you get to know. Actors come in thinking the director will pull it off. So many times good scripts are not executed well. Tevar I had estimated it would do around 60 cr and that was the only time I went wrong. Otherwise for all my other films I was pretty accurate.
What’s the stupidest thing people think about actors?
Lot of people feel actors are arrogant and difficult to talk to. But when they meet us they tell us aap toh normal ho. Lot of people feel that we don’t have emotions and we are not affected by people passing by.
Being a producers son, want to know your insight on the economics of the industry…You think the movies off late are not doing the numbers they are expected to achieve? Like do you think Ki and Ka, which did so well, could have gone another extra mile? Or even a Kapoor and Sons…
But Kapoor and Sons was a very profitable venture. It was made around 37 cr I think, the film did 65 cr in India.
Actors come in thinking the director will pull it off. So many times good scripts are not executed well.
But despite a good film, do you think it has still not achieved its full potential?
No, see film have ranges. Every film cannot be beyond what its range is. Like Neerja has over performed if you look at it. Like Piku last year also over performed. That is when there is a genuine love like madness for a film. Ek wave aati hai, that the film is mind blowing. Woh apne potentional se jyada kar jaati hai. When a Piku is expected to do 55-60 cr and does 80cr that is the love of the audience beyond. But usse jyada kuch filmon ke range nahi hoti. Also you have to understand that the audiences are very different. City audiences are very different from the second tier city audience. Ki and Ka is made for a certain audience and we can’t play it in a single screen. Kapoor and Sons, Neerja you can’t play at a single screen. Airlift, even if it’s Akshay you can only play it in certain single screens. But despite that Airlift does 120 cr which is a huge number. Yes, the trend last year was not good. There were some unfortunate disappointments and every year has that.
Go on…
It is also the ticket prices have become expensive. Less people step out to watch films. It’s only like if they hear good things they will go and see the film. Today average doesn’t cut it. After a month I will watch it on video on demand or on the internet. Or some channel will play it on satellite. Time pass doesn’t cut it so you have to give more than that to the audience.
Sometimes actors also charge so high and the economics of the film go wrong making the recovery a big task…
For the past few years I can vouch for the fact that the younger generation has not done a film which is very front-loaded. I think we are also very conservative in our approach. I treat every film individually and things take time to change. Content is getting better by the day. Films don’t do so well in India because we have a diverse audience. Not every film will connect with everybody. There are few pan India films that come out every year. The Urban middle class is coming to multiplex more often. That is where the main money is in the theatres. If just by pure multiplex numbers, if Ki & Ka, Kapoor and Sons and Neerja have done this much, imagine the potential if you continue working this way. In the next 5 years, multiplex will even command better numbers.
People have grown up watching films for 30 and 50 rs. Recessions or not, picture toh utne ki he hoti thi. Balcony 50, stall was 25-30 rs. Slowly it went up to 100 rs which was a lot. They are used to being entertained at a certain price. You buy popcorn and samosas now and half your salary is gone.
At the screening of his film 'Ki & Ka', Arjun Kapoor sold popcorn.
In a movie crazy country like India, we have such limited screens (around 5000 screens)… Like China has twice the number of screens…
See, the pay structure of China is very different. People are making lot more money to watch a film there. In India, not everybody is making that kind of money. They have to feed their families. India, the rural states, we have very few theatres. I don’t think we have more than 5000 screens which are not enough to feed the population. Hardly 1 percent of the population goes to see the film. That is primarily because of ticket pricing. Today, there are so many other avenues of entertainment now. People have grown up watching films for 30 and 50 rs. Recessions or not, picture toh utne ki he hoti thi. Balcony 50, stall was 25-30 rs. Slowly it went up to 100 rs which was a lot. They are used to being entertained at a certain price. You buy popcorn and samosas now and half your salary is gone. Going to multiplex today can cost a family of 4 straight 4000 rs. So now instead of watching 4 movies a month, they are just watching 1. That has been the biggest difference.
For an actor to be well informed about the current trends or identify what the audience wants, do you have friends with whom you have these long discussions?
We are all aware of who is making what as we are part of the industry. We do lose a little bit of connect as we don’t go to the theatres to see our film. That’s the big difference and we need to go more often. But one needs to be open minded, travel the country, meet people, hear them, what they like and what they are talking about. That is what keeps me corrected. I always pay attention to what age group is reacting to.
Do you randomly take off on unplanned trips? Does your profession give you that window?
Not as much as I should. Not in India because the problem is that you take off abroad, you need more time. You can’t just take off for 2-3 days. You never have that time to take off for 10-15 days in a stretch. You get a weekend off and you want to sleep it off. But last year I went to Goa alone for a few days. May be this year after I finish Half Girlfriend I will try and do it again.
Varun, Alia, Sidharth have an option to pitch themselves for any scripts that come to Dharma Productions. At YRF (they manage Arjun’s career), do you have that option?
I think in YRF what happens that the director decides with Adi which actor he wants and then you are offered the film. You are allowed to decide if you want to do it or not. That’s how it functions for me from Day 1 at YRF. There is no first right to refusal that I am better for this. I don’t go and sit with Adi and pitch myself. He is the one who has made me and he knows my skills. I am sure in Dharma, it must be in a different way and here it is in a different way.
