VID & PICS: The Front Row & Star Verdict : Shahid, Sona

PrabhudhevaVerified account@PDdancing

Promotions of #Rrthefilm R..Rajkumar on in full swing with @shahidkapoor n @sonakshisinha pic.twitter.com/p8BhGnJ07D

Sakshi Mehra@smehraa

A vision in Shela Khan and Zara pumps, @sonakshisinha on Front Row with Anupama Chopra.#promotions #R...Rajkumar pic.twitter.com/SYvRPA08hO

This week on The Front Row, film critic Anupama Chopra talks with Bollywood actors Shahid Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha and dancer-turned director Prabhu Dheva about their upcoming action film "R...Rajkumar."

Edited excerpts:

Anupama Chopra: Prabhu Dheva, you have a 100% record in Bollywood. Every film you make is a success. Does that put a lot of pressure on you? Shahid, did you ever sense that he was under any pressure?

Shahid Kapoor: I feel that he's extremely involved. Whenever you're on set with Prabhu, even when you're talking to him, he is constantly thinking. These films are not concept heavy. They're in a space which the audience has seen. I wouldn't say he looked stressed ever. He's a very happy, chilled out person.

Prabhu Dheva: No, I don't take any pressure because I've been in this industry for so many years. If I had been new, I would have. First of all, I think I haven't done only that film. [But in a way] this is my first film because every film is important.

Anupama: Prabhu, it's the first time you are making a film that's an original and not a remake. Is that scary? Or is it liberating because you can take the story wherever you want?

Mr. Dheva: For me, remake or a straight film, we give 200%. Remakes look easy but a small magic is there in recreating the magic. Straight movies are also tough. The tension and the stress is when the film is releasing. When we are making it, we are totally into it.

Anupama: Shahid, this is the first time you've done such hardcore action. Tigmanshu Dhulia was on the show last week. He said action in South Indian films can be like a circus. Would you agree?

Mr. Kapoor: I think filmmaking is about conviction. If the conviction of the filmmaker and the team reaches the audience, they will believe what they are watching.

The entire country has responded in the last few years to certain films which we term as masala films' because that's our understanding of it, we don't know how to understand beyond that. You can fight with 100 people, but it's about the conviction of the situation, the emotion and the character. That's why superhero films are made.

Mr. Dheva: We are all Indians, we are emotional people. So actually, we make the villain more powerful so when the hero hits him, it becomes heroism.

Anupama: Sonakshi, there's an argument to be made that these specific type of movies have further sidelined heroines because it really is all about the man and the women have to mostly look pretty and dance. What would your response be?

Sonakshi Sinha: Well, I have been a part of a few action movies in the past but "R...Rajkumar" places the romance at par with the action in the film. I'm very happy with this. These are the kinds of films that appeal to me. I like to watch them as well so that's why I'm a part of them.

Anupama: Shahid, you go from "R...Rajkumar" to "Haider", a reworking of "Hamlet" with Vishal Bhardwaj. Prabhu Dheva and Vishal are two opposite ends of the filmmaking spectrum. How did you do that?

Mr. Kapoor: It's very, very different. It's amazing to work with Vishal again and it's one of the most difficult roles ever written by Shakespeare. Our joke on set used to be, Sir, if I'm giving an "R...Rajkumar" type expression, please tell me.'

But I think maybe it would have been more difficult if I did "Haider" first and then did "R...Rajkumar." Because "R...Rajkumar" is a new world for me, but that's what an actor needs to do.

Anupama: Sonakshi, Shahid said that when he gave an extra expression in a certain scene, Prabhu said to him, I saw your extra expression, I'm editing it out.' Did you ever experience this?

Ms. Sinha: All the time. Just yesterday in dubbing in my voice I added one extra sound. He said, Why? Don't act. Leave. Cut. Do again!' (laughs)

Mr. Kapoor: That's his favorite line, Don't act. Just be normal, how you are in real life, why are you acting?' There's a certain candidness and spontaneity in his films, which makes them work. He understands his film better than anybody else.

Ms. Sinha: There's a thin line between making it convincing or hamming. I think he just maintains the balance very, very well with his actors.