Arjun Kapoor: “Aditya Chopra rejected me three to four times”

Arjun Kapoor has gone from strength to strength since joining the film industry. However, it hasn’t been an easy journey, and despite being a part of the family he is from, his decision to make it on his own has taught him some valuable lessons.

“I have grown up in this films industry so I have seen the highs and lows through my parents, so maybe being a star kid is that they prepare for the good and bad slightly fast. You get opportunities easily in the beginning. Maybe, I would have asked my father to pick up the phone and meet Aditya Chopra but I chose the path which I felt was right, meeting casting directors and going for an audition, Hindustan Times reports the actor stating.

He went on to say, “Aditya Chopra rejected me three to four times and I don’t know whether it had anything to do with my surname. When he saw my photos, he said, ‘I can take you as a character actor’. Then I auditioned again for ‘Ishaqzaade’ (2012) and I got the film. I don’t think my surname had anything to do when he was rejecting me either.”

Talking about his process in choosing films for himself rather than for the box office, Kapoor expressed, “If I do everything for external validation and proving myself, then I will make wrong decisions. In my career, I have realised that I can do anything if I have my conviction. We go wrong from time-to-time (and) that’s human. But I have to be excited as a person to tell a story. I will be lying if I say I don’t care about the results, we all do and we all must as it is result-driven business but that can’t be the only deciding factor. I need to enjoy the process as an actor.”

With the release of his first period drama ‘Panipat’ (2019), gaining an average rating with critics, it seems this has been a good move for Kapoor, where he has managed to gain some positive feedback for his performance. 

If this is anything to go by, it seems the actor’s mindset is taking him along the right path.