In a film that boasted of names such as John Abraham, Anil Kapoor and Manoj Bajpayee, there was one actor who despite having hardly seven to eight scenes, managed to hold his own in Shootout at Wadala. It might be newcomer Siddhant Kapoor's lineage -- he has Shakti Kapoor for his father and Padmini and Tejwasini Kolhapure as his aunts after all -- but it was also his determination to make it in Bollywood. He has assisted director Priyadarshan on four films. And now, he's geared up for his next release Ugly, a comedy, Saxxx Ki Dukaan and another film where he's playing the lead, but isn't ready to divulge more details.
Gangsta rap
I called up Sanjay Gupta one day and told him that I want to be a part of Shootout at Wadala. I had seen Shootout at Lokhandwala and could see myself playing a lot of characters from that film. So we sat down and chatted for a couple of days. He told me there's a character called Gyancho and I went for it. I wasn't expecting the great response, I just gave it my best shot. It was a big film and I didn't want to feel lost. But the actors helped me a lot and that boosted my confidence. I always wanted to be part of a gangster film as I'm a big fan of them, whether Indian or foreign.
Staying away from tags
Negative, positive, comic, hero -- I don't think much about all this. If a character makes an impact on the script and gives it a certain flavour, then I don't think tags like hero or villain make any difference. The definition of villains too has changed from the days when my father used to play villain. The story would revolve around the hero and heroine, the villain would do something bad and the hero would take revenge. Nowadays, the negative characters have a lot of flavour to them. The settings are more real.
Raring to go
I'm playing a twisted character in Anurag Kashyap's Ugly. It's about the kidnapping of a young girl and how things go wrong after that. It was selected for Director's Fortnight at Cannes this year. Anurag is one of the finest directors we have and I was after his life to cast me in one of his films. That's when he offered Ugly to me. I'm also doing Saxxx Ki Dukaan with Vir Das. It's a very different kind of comedy, in a very Delhi Belly space. It's about these two good-for-nothing guys who start selling sex products in Delhi. It's a very interesting and funny story.
Family matters
From childhood, there has been a chalta-firta live entertainment in my house. My father is the most hardworking person I've seen in my life. It's a bit scary because people tend to compare me to my father, but I'm just doing my job. But the two people I take the most advice from is my sister Shraddha and my girlfriend Erika. Shraddha and I share a great bond. I'm also very possessive about her. We give each other a lot of helpful advice.
