Arjun Kapoor: ‘Never been an insecure actor’

Arjun Kapoor and Ajay Devgn

To put a super cop's strength to the test, you need a super villain. In Arjun Kapoor, Singham Again director Rohit Shetty seems to have found a powerful antagonist to his larger-than-life hero Ajay Devgn. Almost a week since he unveiled his first look as the cold-blooded, menacing villain, Kapoor says he is receiving love from his fans. The bigger high for him, however, is the knowledge that directors envision him in different roles. "I'm thankful to all the directors and producers, who have given me a chance to shine. I'm ecstatic that a [successful] filmmaker like Rohit Shetty saw that I had the potential to play the villain in his massively mounted Singham Again. I have given it my all," beams the actor.

Rohit Shetty

Kapoor will go up against an army of cops in the third instalment of the Singham franchise - from Devgn to Akshay Kumar and Ranveer Singh, from Deepika Padukone to Tiger Shroff. He is happy to make the switch from a hero to an anti-hero. He says it fits perfectly with his agenda of breaking the mould. "I never planned to become an actor, but I fell in love with the movies as I spent more and more time observing how dedicated people were in this industry to provide wholesome entertainment. So, when I wanted to explore acting, I was not fixated on what I was selected to play on screen. I wanted to feel the same passion and joy that I had seen actors feel when they gave a shot. I wanted to feel the rush to be in front of the camera."

The actor underlines that in his 12-year career so far, he has tried to experiment with his roles - be it doing the quirky Finding Fanny (2014) or the gritty Kuttey (2023) - and chosen films for their stories, without worrying about how it would impact his image. "I have never been an insecure actor. I have played the lead, I was the first from my [generation] to do a two-hero film in Gunday [2014], the first to do an ensemble in Mubarakan [2017], to play a hero who was a house-husband to Kareena Kapoor Khan in Ki & Ka [2016], and now, I am playing an out-and-out anti-hero."