Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; October 23, 2022)

Aditya Roy Kapur has had a packed schedule this year, and he is happy to finally get some downtime during the festive season. The actor speaks to Bombay Times about what makes the festive season special and what continues to drive him. Excerpts:

Festive celebrations are back and you have been spotted at a couple of parties hosted in B-Town. But how do the Roy Kapurs celebrate Diwali?
Normally, when everyone is in town, it’s nice to spend the day together. Everyone seems to be travelling this year, so, unfortunately, I won’t be able to spend the festival with my family. Honestly, I just try to spend time with my family and friends during Diwali. But it’s nice that things are back to normal, and everyone’s out and about again. During this period, everyone gets some time off from their busy life and spends it with their friends and family, and that’s probably the best thing about this period.

It has been a packed year for you, with your web series and film projects in the pipeline. Now that the pandemic is hopefully behind us, how does it feel being in this place where there is so much work to look forward to?
It has been a pretty crazy year. Since November-December last year, I have been working back-to-back. I haven’t had much time for anything else, but I have really enjoyed it. It’s been a good year. I wanted to be back on set, especially after COVID, so this year was indeed gratifying.

Film sets are my happy place, and I got to be on the sets this entire year, and do what I love. Both the projects I did were very different from each other, which always helps. I have completed shooting for The Night Manager and Gumrah, and I am glad that I have this brief space where I don’t need to work on a new character immediately. Sometimes, disconnecting from any sort of character is also important for me.

You seem to be someone who never gets perturbed by flops or ecstatic about hits, which dictate an actor’s career. How do you ensure that none of this affects you too deeply?
It’s important to take them both in your stride. I feel experience also plays an important role. The more you’ve been around in the industry, you understand that somethings will go your way and you also understand when some things don’t go your way. It’s also important to, every now and then, put things in perspective and not take it all too seriously. It’s necessary to have other things in your life that you can do and care about. It could be something as simple as travelling or sports... having other such outlets makes you live your life lesser in the bubble that we’re all functioning in.

You’ve been in the business for about 13 years and now you are working across mediums, what continues to drive you?
The drive to keep doing things that you haven’t done. If you choose roles and projects that push you and keep you on your toes, you can’t just turn up without putting in the right homework. Also, you have to perform in front of 120 people and sometimes that itself is enough to drive you.