Manish D Mishra (DNA; August 5, 2017)

Arjun Kapoor is known to marry style with comfort in most of his outings. In Mubarakan, he stands out as a swag-flashing Londoner — who prefers knee-length jackets and tone-on-tone layering in his ensembles. On the red carpet, Arjun has shown a liking for prints, colour blocking and mixing ethnic with contemporary. In a free-wheeling chat, he talks about his look in his last film, his red carpet appearances and brainstorming with stylists...

How do you interpret style?
Style for me is comfort. On a day-to-day basis, if you are not comfortable in what you wear, it doesn’t translate into your body language and personality. In fact, it creates a hindrance. The outfit has to be seamless. When it comes to films, it’s important that the get-up or the garb helps you into believing that you are that character. In Mubarakan, where I played a simple guy, I’ve worn tone-on-tone pagdis — it just allows you to feel the character a bit more. I think, when it comes to fashion, it’s always important for an actor to bifurcate the personal and professional selves. Of course, when you’re promoting the film, you experiment with your look. From time to time, you make mistakes because you realise, some things look great on you, but don’t photograph well and at times you realise that a few things don’t look appealing but photograph rather beautifully. Fashion is evolving in so many ways. For me, fashion is taking one day at a time. You should always be comfortable — whether you’re shooting or promoting or chilling — there has to be a bit of you in the clothes that you wear. It can’t be what or who is relevant.

How was it working with Kunal Rawal?
When you do a film, it all stems from the material, the director and the thought. When I did Finding Fanny, I had Anaita Shroff Adajania, same with Kunal Rawal in Mubarakan. In Mubarakan, I play a guy, who’s a London-bred Indian and there’s a certain signature style that you have — sneakers, the leather jackets, the knee-length top coats, T-shirts, the sunglasses and accessories, not too much prints. Picking up the correct brands adds a lot of coolness to it. Things like that come from a designer’s aesthetic. Kunal has done a fantastic job. It was challenging for him to come up with a sardar’s look. Nobody has done a sardar in that dynamics — the knitted sweaters and the matching pagdi. Since it’s a winter film, both the boys have worn trench coats. If you see Jat Jaguar, the green jacket is Greg Lauren, limited edition. One may ask why you need this label, but when you see it in the film, it conveys the guy’s attitude immediately. It creates a texture about the guy. The jacket appears to have been inspired by Tom Hardy. It’s so cool that you don’t need to do too much. Sometimes a designer adds one element which does it. You don’t have to do 30 things. Directors, actors and stylists need to have a connect.

How different is it to dress for red carpet?
For my red carpet appearances, I have worked with many stylists and the best part about working with them is that most of them are willing to converse. I feel a stylist is good when they know your body type and personality. Anisha Jain is good that way. She worked with me during Half Girlfriend promotions, too. I let myself be with them and let them discover things, which might work. I sometimes tend to be boring but they push me in terms of colours. So often you are confound to being out there, being best dressed and stylish, pushing the envelope. However, when you’re travelling, it’s not that you’re getting your picture taken outside but you’re also taking the entire flight. Airport look is so last season and now gym look is the new thing (Laughs). Now you can’t sweat working out because you’ll get photographed outside post your workout. What to do? (Laughs). We know that paps are there to photograph us so we need to be dressed in a certain way. You still have to be yourself. I can’t suddenly start wearing matching trackpants and jumpers because that’s not my style.

Do you follow fashion?
For me, it’s always important to not try to bring attention to yourself for the heck of it. Fashion is not about what others feel, it should be about what you feel. Today, I was in a mood to wear a printed T-shirt, some days, I like to wear plain muted colours. It depends on your mood. I’d be lying if I say that I am not aware by fashion. I like shopping for sneakers, sunglasses and jackets. I have an obsession for jackets. I love layering. When you travel, you get to use these layers so nicely. Fashion is about being yourself. If you are not comfortable, it shows. But I am an aware person who can adapt to change. My daily clothes if you see, I don’t deserve to be an actor. I only sit in shorts at home.