Bollywood actor Harshvardhan Kapoor is getting mixed reviews for his film Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, which has been directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. The film sees him play a common man who takes on socio-political issues head on, says that in real life he is comfortable in his own world and doesn't take interest in forming an opinion on anything political.
"I am someone who is very comfortable in my own world and I know it is not a good thing. I really do not take much interest in forming an opinion on anything political because I am not inclined to that," Harshvardhan told IANS.
Having grown up in a family of film stars and producers like father Anil Kapoor, sister Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, uncles like Boney Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor as well as cousins like Arjun Kapoor and Mohit Marwah, Harshvardhan has seen success and failure of the entertainment business from close quarters.
Is that the reason why the end result of the film does not bother him much and he is rather focussed on the process of filmmaking?
Harshvardhan said: "No, that is not true... I do get hurt. When my debut film did not work for most of the people, I was upset but do we really know how to control the fate of a film?
"All we can do is put on hard work. In a year, only 10 films get huge success at the box office out of so many films releasing in India. And what is the definition of success?
"From childhood I have seen, there are films that are counted as most successful film and in two weeks, those films went off the people's memories. On the other hand, there are films that didn't work commercially, but people cherish them even today. So what really a successful film is?" questioned the young actor.
As for his "Bhavesh Joshi Superhero" -- directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, he believes it has a quality of being relatable to the mass audience.
"The treatment of the film is very different. It is modern and cinematically rich. The inspiration of the core character may be drawn from the angry young man era of our Hindi cinema, but the feet are very much in today's time.
"It is a realistic film and not a larger than life superhero film. I think the content of the film is quite accessible to the larger audience unlike my ‘Mirzya'," Harshvardhan said.
The actor believes that the definition of the superhero is changing in Indian cinema where the story of common man is getting celebrated.
"It is the story of a young guy who was leading a regular life with a lot of complaint about the system that we all do, but we really do not do much about it.
"Then he finds himself in extraordinary circumstances and decided to make a choice… a very brave choice that a regular guy will not attempt to do. I think that's what makes him a superhero."
For the film, Harshvardhan went by the script and the director's vision.
Also, being a formally trained actor, Harshvardhan's process of immersing himself in a character is a combination of method acting and personal life experiences.
"To bring a certain emotion in a scene, I do not look out for others' examples, but my own life experiences. Of course, I cannot live life like that character in the film, but in my personal life, I must have experienced something similar.
"Another important thing we have to keep in mind is, in film shooting, we do not shoot the story as sequentially as the audience watch on screen. We might shoot the climax at the beginning of filming.
"So when I am performing a scene, I try to understand what the story wants to achieve through the scene. I also use my sense memory."
(With IANS Inputs)