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No guts, No glory

As India's Most Wanted completes a week in theatres, Arjun Kapoor talks to Bhakti Mehta about getting under the skin of his character, the importance of a strong story line, the digital boom and more

You had said that instinct drives your choice of films. Is it still that important?

Yes, and I think now more than ever. You can get corrupted as time progresses; sometimes, you make choices based on other's opinion and what is relevant to the audience at that point in time. But then, you have to go back to reminding yourself that you are also the audience. You also have to be convinced. You can't overanalyse and nitpick. You have to take chances. Some will go wrong and some will go right. That's just how films work.

You can't just put projects together in their entirety. So, both impulse and instinct have remained intact for me. You may question your own instinct and be wary of being impulsive. But that's good because it means you are constantly trying to improve yourself and are learning from your mistakes. You should introspect. You should not stop backing yourself. You can have moments of weakness. But if you have made it so far by backing yourself, have a little more faith.

How did instinct kick in when you heard the script of India's Most Wanted?

Raj Kumar Gupta gave it to me without a brief. I called him to congratulate him on Raid as I really liked the trailer. He asked me straight away, 'Tu kya kar raha hai?' (What are you doing?)

I said I wasn't doing anything, to which he said he was sending me a script. He sent it at 2 pm and I replied at 5 pm, saying I was doing this film. I was taken aback by its simplicity and how precisely it was being told.

I was most excited by the heroism that came from deeds and actions, and not my character. It's not that I am beating up 20 people to get to a terrorist. That is what intrigued me. I thought it was very real and believable. I wouldn't use the word 'documentary' but it is a true documentation of what transpired to bring this man to justice.

Some stories get lost in time and some are hidden for a reason, some stories never make it to the forefront because there is so much chaos all around. So, once the dust settles, six to seven years later, this story can finally be consumed with reality. There was a covert operation that was unofficially undertaken to bring to justice a man who is responsible for killing 400 people. That is a very big deal and will be for any Indian.

On the surface, your character looks simple and unidimensional. What nuances did you add to your character?

Raj Sir and I worked on the film, script and performance for about 10 days. He said, 'If from the first scene I know that you can catch him, I wouldn't be interested in knowing the story. I want to feel that we won't be able to get these guys and I want to show that you are helpless. And for that, we need to shed your impression of being a mainstream commercial hero.'

I agreed and I chose the film because it is the story of an underdog. He said, 'Exactly. So be the underdog.' Psychologically, an intelligence officer has to be very different from a uniformed officer. You have to learn to disappear in the crowd. You have to operate very subtly. Your interrogations, suspects, the way you get information –you do it all with a smile on your face. It is a very different psychological play.

Here, you need to play with words – that is entirely different. You need to be very sure of every move you make. And, these people do a job where they get zero credit with a very basic salary. They do it without expecting to be thanked.

And the country can wash its hands off them many times…

Yes, and that is what the deal is. If you are caught, your family will not even be mentioned. That is the reality that we, sitting in Mumbai, take for granted. When we see it in Hollywood films, we are intrigued. I think it is about time we show such things in a Bollywood film, realistically.

We just discussed how it is very important for a story like this to be told. We have watched films based on real people and real incidents. As an actor, do you fear that films like that can become jingoistic?

The tonality of the film, the teaser, the trailer and even its posters are simple. It is more about the internal angst of people. That's how we have made it. We have talked about the damage that man has caused to his country. We have not spoken about bashing someone up; we have not gone into blaming or pinpointing someone. The dialogue is crisp. Patriotism, in this film, comes from telling the story of a common man in India. We represent the common man, the nine-to-five, middle-class, working generation. They are the ones who run our country.

My blood boils when I hear that there is a terrorist on the move. We have brought him to justice but he is still getting away by saying that he has not done it. Jingoism aside, patriotism is a feeling that comes from within. Jingoism is thrust upon people. It is about bhaashan and dialogues.

This film is internal. You cannot bring back the 400 people that our country lost. We don't need to say much. You have to have that emotion within you and understand what loss is and what our motherland is. If you watch this film, you will understand that there are men who are sacrificing their lives and they deserve credit. The film is about respecting the people defending us.

Did you have any reference point for the character you play in this film?

I relied on writing. It was very clear. We met some officers to get into the mood of the film. We did some workshops with other actors in the film, for a week. And then we went into shooting. The best discovery is in front of the camera, where you can find your sur and rhythm. We have tried to keep the conversation mature and my character is not a hot-headed officer who beats up people. He has a calm demeanour, so you can't tell what he is thinking. And that is important too. I like that my character wanted to play without showing too much and giving into much of what he was thinking.

And, Raj Kumar Gupta specialises in this genre…

Oh, he is fantastic! I loved working with him. I wanted to work with him. We were supposed to do Revolution 2020 together at one point but that did not transpire. I am so glad that I called him after Raid. He is a great person. He gives you so much love on the set. He is a master craftsman. He knows exactly what he wants from every shot. He is getting better with every film.

This film might seem verbose but it is a thriller. He is very thorough. We have shot the film in difficult conditions but not once did it feel like he was not in control of the situation. He has done a fantastic job. He, his wife and his entire team are fantastic. He was happy to get people who were collaborative and wanted to tell the story. The preparation for this film was so thorough that I was taken aback. He has been writing this for three years. And that shows in the way he has shot the film. It has been an absolute pleasure and honour to work with him.

You have shot the film at real locations. Is that a different experience?

You respond to the ambience around you. If there is traffic and people are shouting and screaming around you, then the way you perform is more real because you are talking above them. If there is chaos when you are shooting in a market place, you have to glide through it without being noticed. Then the weather plays havoc. It may be a sunny, hot and sultry afternoon or a humid evening.

We shot the film in Nepal at a time when it doesn't rain there. But it started raining on the first night. We had two options, to wait for the rain to stop or shoot while it poured. We would be shooting the climax over the next seven days. We improvised the scene and thought of shooting in the rain. It rained for the next seven days.

We managed to shoot because we were reacting to what was happening around us. That worked in our favour. If you work with a team that is ready to operate under pressure and thrive on it, the results will be fantastic.

A lot of your contemporaries are foraying into the digital space. Are you open to the web space?

I am not among those who believe that working in the web space would shrink my core audience. The story has to resonate with me. At the end of the day, when you are listening to a story, you have to consider that it should be told on a certain platform where it will get maximum attention.

There are certain themes that we cannot tell on the big screen. There are certain themes that make family audiences a little uncomfortable. It is a little risky making a film with Rs 70-80 crore, with themes that might not appeal to the common man. You would rather take that risk and spend it on the digital platform and tell the story exactly the way it is, without toning it down. Then, it will definitely find its way to its audience.

Full credit should be given to digital producers. At the end of the day, Netflix, Amazon and Hotstar deserve credit because they are making content without thinking about the repercussions of, let's say, leftist or right-wing supporters. That is the beauty of the web. If you take that away, then it becomes television, where you are reaching out to the common man. I would love to be a part of the web. I would never say 'never'. I did television and I enjoyed it; I loved hosting Khatron Ke Khiladi. The time spent doing a web project or a film is the same. You cannot quantify stardom. Is that measured by the number of followers that you have on Instagram?

Has your perception towards box office numbers changed?

Rs 70 crore is not a big deal today. Rs 100 crore is not a big deal either. Numbers constantly change. What is exciting to see is that the volume is growing and so, you know that there is money to be made, which is important for producers and investors. But what is more exciting and challenging is that your films can make Rs 100 crore and still not be memorable; your film can make less than that and be more memorable. The challenge is to be relevant and stay memorable in all aspects.

I am not talking only about the classes or masses or the niche audience. I am saying that all kinds of films are working. For example, Badla. It is not about how much business it made, it is a film that breaks the notion that you can't do these whodunits. It is above a Rs 100 crore film for me. When I saw Gully Boy do that kind of business, I thought it was outstanding. I realised that now we can tell the stories that we have been scared to tell. How would a person sitting in Jabalpur or Kanpur understand rap? But they do.

At the same time, Kesari does well. That will make you go, 'Okay boss, if Akshay Kumar does an action film, we want to go and watch it.' He is being patriotic in his own way, which is unique. There are films giving you indications all the time that business is ever expanding. That is the only constant. Business is changing – every day, every week, every month. Simultaneously, we are still making the films that we want to make, which is grabbing audience's attention. That is very exciting.

Especially with the smaller gems that are being made.

Right! The divide is now breaking apart. It is not the face on the film poster that dictates the performance of a film; it is all about having a good story. It takes the pressure off and also adds pressure. BOI

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