The actor has taken inspiration from Pankaj kapur for his character in Mausam

Shahid Kapur, who plays a character spanning a dozen years from a small-town youth to a pilot in his father Pankaj Kapur's film Mausam, has been inspired by his father's childhood and youth when he was growing up in Ludhiana.

Lad to man

Says a source close to him, "Shahid plays a young 18 year old boy from a rural town in Punjab, who later grows into a 30- year-old man, who becomes a pilot.

Shahid's father Pankaj himself has been born and brought up in the town of Ludhiana. When researching for the film Shahid decided to base his character on his dad."

"He has re-lived his dad's childhood in small towns by visiting Ludhiana, going through Pankaj's old photos and riding a cycle through the narrow streets of a small town in Punjab.

Shahid's first shot in Mausam is that of cycling down the streets of a small rural town, " the source elaborated.

Shahid will be seen doing many things in Mausam from going to college and getting ragged to trying to flirt with girls in college.

Doing it right

"Pankaj took him to Ludhiana and other small towns of Punjab, in and around small gullies.

There's even one scene where mud is being thrown on Shahid's face. While the unit people got multani mitti to put on his face Pankaj, who was in theatre before, was very upset and ordered that real mud be brought as he wanted the scene to look realistic. Shahid is enjoying the transition of a young boy to a man."

After Mausam, Shahid begins Kunal Kohli's next a romantic comedy with Priyanka Chopra where both play a young, much -much-in-love 28-year olds.

"Fortunately in film Shahid is playing his age throughout the film and there is no age transition at all, " the source said.