Kareena is my worst critic: Shahid Kapoor

On Kareena Kapoor
She does see my work and is my worst critic since she is more experienced. It is give and take when it comes to having opinions, about what we have to say about each other's work. But we don't come in the way of each other's work because I feel it's a very individual thing. Each actor has different positives and negatives so you have to understand that and work on them yourself. We both do spend as much time as we can together provided we are free. We see a lot of films in multiplexes together. We have freaked out on Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Khosla Ka Ghosla and have lost count how many times we went to see them. I have been told Kareena has mellowed down after being with me. Well I can't answer that precisely because I did not know how she really was before. (Smiles)

Dad and me
Rajkumar Santoshi has spoken to me and my dad (Pankaj Kapoor) about a particular subject he is working on. The concept is sounding very exciting. We both have given our consent to it. It will be very exciting for me to work with my dad, who is such a talented actor and Rajji who is a fabulous director.

Vivaah
With Vivaah I realised that eventually a good story well told works with the audience. Whether it is shot abroad or in India or it is considered contemporary or 'happening', none of these things matter. What counts is whether the film has something to hold the audiences attention till the end. There is nothing stronger than the audience opinion. When Vivaah was releasing, everybody thought its promos were looking outdated, music was not sounding contemporary and it was felt that the film might not even get an opening. But, it started very strongly and it is still doing well having completed its silver jubilee recently. That goes to show that if an audience accepts a film then it is going to do well. So it gave me faith that eventually one has to come down to the script.

Choosy me
I am happy today that Vivaah has put me in a position that I can sit at home and patiently wait for better films coming my way. I can work with new directors and different scripts. My next film is with a relatively new director, Imtiaz Ali. I was very impressed with the script of his first film, Socha Na Tha. I have a film with Aziz Mirza where I am paired along with Vidya Balan.

Changing Bollywood
There is so much new talent coming up. I was a newcomer just three years back. Today even films like Khosla Ka Ghosla and Bheja Fry which were considered small films are striking big. So I am not having apprehensions now in working with new film makers.

Me and Ayesha
FNF is our second movie together. But things are pretty much the same. We were very comfortable during our first film together and so also this one. She is always pretty chilled out so its fun working with her. Don't forget we did the Complan Ad together as kids. We played brother and sister in that one.

Ahmed Khan, the Director
I was often asked by many why I chose his Fool N Final when he had delivered a big flop with Lakeer, his debut film. All I would like to say here is that, the same question can be asked to him as well because even I had been going through a lean phase those days after a couple of flops when he zeroed down on me. He also took a risk by casting me. Every actor and technician in the industry goes through an up and down phase. You must have faith in the person you are working with because success rate changes here every Friday.

Ahmed Khan, the Choreographer
Ahmed has always been one of the best choreographers in the industry. As the director of FNF, he made sure that I sweat it out whenever I used to come for the rehearsals. He gave me some really difficult steps to perform. But, it was fun at the end of the day because we were trying to do something new and different. He told me that he wanted me to make a style statement through my songs. Also since me and Ahmed know each other so well being friends for many years, I had the comfort of pitching in with my suggestions while performing the steps.

Bike stunts
Ahmed wanted me to do my own stunts on this specially imported BMX bike. I trained for three months on it, fell down many times while practising but still went on with it. It is a very small-compact bike and it is difficult to sit or stand on it. I have done a 360 in the air and a tail whip. The most thrilling one was the jump from the 16th floor that I did on my own with the bike.

Industry's best female dancers
I think it would be a bit unfair rating people. But, of the artists that I have worked with, I think Kareena is very good at what she does. Amrita Rao is a good dancer although she has not done much dancing on screen. Ayesha has done a very good job in FNF. What a guy can do while dancing, a girl cannot do the same and vice versa. The same applies even to choreographers. The kind of expressions Saroj Khan manages to get from her actresses, I think it will take me ten years to get them perfectly right.


priya

dats really cool of shahid!

Wow... he knows his facts 😆
And I didn't know Ayesha and him did an ad together as kids and were brother and sister 😛

Thanks, aww Shahid and Kareena seem good for each other.