It’s not everyday you have this father-son duo talk about their equation as co-actors, and the bond they share off camera. As Anil Kapoor and Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor gear up to share the screen again in the Netflix film Thar, two years since their first onscreen outing together in AK vs AK, they get candid about collaborating with a family member and if at all it changes anything on set. Excerpts:

ANIL: What really excited me about being part of Thar is that we’re not playing father and son. We play characters. With Sonam (Kapoor Ahuja; actor-daughter), in The Zoya Factor and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019), I was playing her father. If given a choice, I’d rather do a film [with my kids] where we’re actually strangers.

HARSH: When you do maybe a more star-driven film, then you’re a little more conscious. But Thar is a character-driven film, so you just kind of try and submit to the world you are a part of.

HARSH: The directors I’ve worked with — Vikramaditya Motwane, Vasan Bala and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra — couldn’t care less. They’re not starstruck in any way; they’re focused and proud of their work. I’ve not been in any starry-kind of films, so I don’t really feel like I’ve been treated differently. I’ve just been like any other actor on set.

ANIL: You would be surprised, but I don’t give much advice to my kids. I just let them be. All the films that Harsh and Sonam have done so far, they have got them on their own. I had no contribution. I am not one of those fathers who sits down with a stick and gives gyaan. In fact, the whole family is very independent and has their own point of view and tastes in food, films, clothes, and aesthetics. There’s nobody who’s anybody’s fan in our house.

ANIL: For me, it’s always a combination of who I’m working with, who the director is, and, of course, the material has to be good. Somewhere, I think, through Harsh, I’m getting an opportunity to work with the younger filmmakers and let them navigate me.

HARSH: For quite a long time, I’ve been working with director Raj Singh Chaudhary, to make sure that this happens. I came on board in 2018, then we got dad towards the end of 2019. We shot it last year and now it is set for release.

HARSH: There’s definitely more responsibility to ensure things are how we dream them to be. There’s no room for complacency or wasting time because time is money, especially on a film set.

ANIL: When I’m on the set, I’m not a producer, I’m just an actor. Also, I’m not a very intrusive or confrontational person.

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I was very emotional on hearing the news [of Sonam’s pregnancy]. She’s a perfectionist in whatever she does. I’m sure she’d be a perfect mother, too. The way she has been, she has taken the aesthetics from her mother, grandmother, and her maasi (Kaveeta Bhambhani Singh), who’s an interior designer. So, all the women in the house had that [good taste]. And they’ve all been great mothers, wives, and homemakers, and Sonam will also be like that. Even professionally, all of them have worked all their lives. Sonam also loves working. She’s a very passionate actor, wife and daughter, and would be a passionate mother now. She’s very generous and very giving. People just love her. She hasn’t had a [film] release for quite some time, but I’m sure she’s going to do even better films after she delivers and gets back to work. She’s looking forward to getting back to work soon.