Aditya Roy Kapur says that his journey until now has been ‘full of twists and turns’; adds Malang’s success has validated all his hard work
Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 26, 2020)

Like all the other cast members, Kalank’s (2019) failure came as a huge dampener for Aditya Roy Kapoor as well. But the actor has clearly kicked off 2020 on a successful note with Malang. Although he has been lapped up by the audiences in his beefed up, action-hero avatar [in Mohit Suri’s directorial], Aditya says he isn’t ready to be put in a box. “Honestly, I am in a place where I want to keep pushing myself,” says the actor, as he readies for multiple releases this year. Excerpts from an interview:

Last year, you completed a decade as an actor in Bollywood. How do you look at the journey? Has it been a fulfilling and thrilling ride?
Undoubtedly, it has been (smiles), full of twists and turns. I started out as a VJ at 18, so you could say that it’s been 15 years for me in showbiz. I must say that I’ve learnt a lot on the way, about the craft of acting and even myself. Along the way, I’ve met some amazing people and have done some very fulfilling work. But somehow, I still feel that I’m just getting started.

Talking about Malang’s success, are you kicked, considering you stepped out of the box for the film?
Absolutely! I had been wanting to step into the action space for a while now, though the opportunity hadn’t presented itself (smiles). With Malang, I knew I’d be taking quite a jump and I was also very curious to see how the audiences react. It seems they’ve accepted me in the action avatar and it’s a huge validation for the hard work that I put in. In fact, lots of people are telling me now to do more of it, even as a few have suggested that I keep up the beefed up, psycho look all the time (laughs).

Personally, how important is the film’s success at this stage of your career, considering you haven’t had a successful film for some time now, until Malang released?
I think it was very important. My last solo release was OK Jaanu (2017) which was quite some time ago. But I was also very cognizant of the fact that I wanted to offer the audiences something new — a different version of myself that they had never seen before from me. And now, I feel the success of Malang validates that thinking.

In Malang, besides your acting skills, your transformation, physique and action avatar also impressed audiences a lot. What’s your take on it?
As an actor, I’ve always tried to change myself, physically, into whatever the character demands. In the past, too, there were subtle changes [as per the parts] but that might not have come across in the way that it did with this role. Besides, I think the lure of getting all beefed up and beating up the bad guys was too good a proposition to let go of (laughs). But in all seriousness, Mohit [Suri; director] was clear from the start that he needed to see a stark difference, not only mentally but physically as well, between the two time frames. People have commented on how the two versions look nothing like each other and are equally believable, which is — very honestly — all you want to hear as an actor.

Going forward, you have an interesting line-up of with films such as Ek Villain 2, Sadak 2 and Ludo among others...
Personally, I am extremely excited. Life’s so funny sometimes, when it rains, it pours. I hadn’t done a film in two years and now I’ve three releases in six months. And the funny thing is that all of it was never planned; these opportunities just presented themselves around the same time. Getting a chance to work with such directors [Mahesh Bhatt, Anurag Basu and Mohit Suri] was something I just couldn’t have missed out on. So yes, I’m really kicked as the roles are very different from one another.

In the 11th year of your career as an actor, how do you see the coming years pan out for you?
I want to try out [parts in] different zones, experiment, and take risks. As an actor, I’m most alive when I’m unsure of the work I’m doing and I want to keep seeking that sensation, regardless of wherever it might take me. As for competition from younger actors, I will just say, ‘bring it on.’ It keeps all of us on our toes.