Arjun Kapoor made a successful comeback with his role as Danger Lanka in Rohit Shetty’s cop drama Singham Again. This marked his first successful film in about eight years, following a prolonged dark phase in his life that almost led him to abandon his passion for cinema. Arjun admitted that he grew “bitter” while watching the success of his contemporaries and would often wonder, “Why can’t I get these offers?” He revealed that he stopped watching films altogether in 2022.
In an interview with Pinkvilla, Arjun explained why he lost interest in something he once considered his passion. He said, “It is a very continuous process. It’s not like one day I randomly woke up and thought, ‘Oh, I am not enjoying watching films.’ What would happen is, I’d watch something for five-ten minutes and suddenly think, ‘When will I get to do such work?’ You have to understand, when you’ve been a main lead, doing mainstream work, and have been used to putting films together, when you say yes, you’re able to make it all happen.”
He added, “The industry also is going through a time where it is not easy to make films happen. At the same time, you are seeing amazing work, and I have always been somebody who was very gracious about enjoying other people’s work and complimenting them. It wasn’t like I had become bitter, but I was not able to see the good in anybody’s performance. I was only trying to see, ‘Why can’t I do that? Why am I not getting a chance to do that?’ So, I started becoming bitter about the fact that I am not getting an opportunity.”
The actor mentioned that he wasn't trying to make comparisons but found it hard to appreciate films. He explained, “I wasn't thinking or saying, 'I can do better than Vijay Varma.' I don't care for such comparisons. What I’m asking is, 'Why can’t I do what Jaideep (Ahlawat) is doing? Why am I not getting the opportunity that Vijay has in this film?' It became hard to enjoy a film as a viewer. My personal baggage started interfering, and I’m someone who watches a film every night before bed, sometimes even two.”
Arjun then revealed, “It happened in the latter half of 2022, where I really just switched off from watching any kind of material and enjoying it. I started to watch YouTube shorts. I had started to doom-scrolling on Instagram. I used to literally lie down in bed and just keep scrolling and pass out.” He added, “I used to be the person who used to watch three films back-to-back during DVD days. So, to go from that to not feeling like even pressing play, I think it was more to do with the fact that I felt paralysed about my thinking. I couldn’t overcome the negative thoughts. I was overthinking a lot, so I was not able to live and enjoy.”
In the same interview, Arjun Kapoor also discussed his absence from cinema during that phase and how he rejected several projects. He said, “I think after 12 years, you have earned that much that you can afford to say no if you are not feeling comfortable or confident about it. I definitely wanted to work but I didn’t want to make mistakes by just being desperate to keep myself busy. I have done that in the past when I was trying to just sign films to keep myself busy.”
He added, “It is tough to say no because you do want to be on a set, you want to be engaged, you don’t want to be sitting at home and overthinking anyways when you are going through a phase where you are trying to not let your mind affect you. But I connect this to a very important phase in my life where I started doing therapy. And somewhere I realised that I need to love myself again. I need to take care of myself again and going outward sometimes is not the answer. You need to go inwards for that. Sometimes you go on a film set or you are roaming around, you are doing things, you are looking for external validation. I think, I needed to go into myself. I needed to really understand why I have so many things that I am not dealt with whether it is loss, rejection, or not wanting to deal with things.”
After therapy, Arjun finally regained his love for cinema when he was recently in Germany and decided to watch a film alone for the first time in years. The actor also credits Singham Again for helping him pull himself out of his dark phase.
Also Read : Arjun Kapoor reveals teenage obsession: “Bought Mohabbatein tickets in black during class 8 or 9!”
from Featured Movie News | Featured Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama
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