‘Kaminey’ will force you to think: Shahid

There are films where you are politely asked to keep your brains at home, and then there are films which suggest you carry them along. “Kaminey will require the use of your brains,” Shahid Kapur attaches a high IQ with it, and takes the opportunity of educating us on how ‘Kaminey’ it is.

He has now cropped his hair and no longer launts his full-grown mane. Although Shahid Kapur has come out of his Kaminey rugged looks, but now he is living it each moment. As the actor laughs, "I am feeling kaminey day in and day out."
On Saturday afternoon, the young actor halted in City to promote his upcoming blockbuster, Kaminey.
Adorning a blue-checkered shirt, the actor got chatty with journos about the film in Hotel Mountview-10.

About Kaminey being tagged with 'A' certificate, he quips, "We all were shocked. Priyanka, Ronnie and Vishal could not believe it. Vishal even gave them the reference of Ghajini.Despite the portrayal of extreme violence, it was given a U/A certificate. " Would this hamper the reach of the film? "Not at all.

“Vishal Bhardwaj is a polite guy. During the script session, he told me of the title. I was like – WHAT! I couldn’t have heard that right! Kaminey!! I wondered what was Vishal upto? And then with me—this guy with a sweet lover boy image! But Vishal convinced me that the title was bang on considering the all-warped-up characters”, he says. Shahid validates the title from the lines written by Gulzaar— Mere arzoo bhi kamini, mere khaawab bhi kaminey, ek dil sey dosti thi, yeh hazur bhi kaminey.’

The ‘f’ word is suddenly a blast. The ‘f’ word is legal. The ‘f’ word is the new ‘s’. And does Fahid Kapoor mind! He lisps, he means to say ‘s’ and ends up saying ‘f’ and is adding yet another word to our options— Kaminey.

Any kismat connection with the two characters he plays here? Shahid flashes a sexy smile finally: “None. I don’t connect with either of the characters because they are so original”. “One stammers, while the other says ‘f’ instead of ‘s’. It was a challenge to play both the characters. So, a lot of research was done, ENT and speech therapists were consulted. We didn’t want to make caricatures on people who stammer,” tells Shahid, who has become selective with his choice of movies. “A successful actor does limited and good work. As an actor I liked the script of Kaminey, and I was ready to take the risk of breaking the chocolate image. Had the audiences not liked the promos, we would have had an uphill task on hands. I am glad people are already liking this movie with a difference.”

With his widest release ever (1100 prints), this is pitched as a make or break film for Shahid, and yes, it does make him nervous. “I’m nervous about every release...unlike yesteryears, where a high number of films determine the star status, today a star is the one who does selective, limited films a year, and very few experiment because money rides the game. Saying that, I have my fingers crossed for this,” says Shahid. There’s no doubt how hard he has worked for it. From following a strict exercise regime with trainer Abbas Ali, getting that raw, rugged, street look correct to braving the speech odds and stripping himself off that lover boy image, Kapur’s given his best shot. “The script and my role within is my top priority. It takes patience, more than anything else,” he advises the youngsters to follow the same mantra

With Chandigarh rush back memories of Jab We Met, good food and great family friends. And now that this most googled star has been voted the sexiest vegetarian and will receive the Rajiv Gandhi Achievement Award, his next feat would be: “the biggest kamina of them all.” Dhan-te-nan!

There’s a little kamina in all of us, Shahid Kapur is all set to become the ‘biggest kamina of all’