Shahid Kapoor recalled how Mira Rajput convinced him to take up the role of ‘Kabir Singh’, despite him being sceptical.

Shahid Kapoor’s performance in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film, Kabir Singh garnered a lot of attention, especially the character approach towards his ladylove. The remake of Arjun Reddy was a blockbuster and received mixed reviews from the audience as some claimed it glorified misogyny and portrayed toxic masculinity.

Shahid Kapoor reveals why he didn’t want to do ‘Kabir Singh’

In a recent interview with Pinkvilla, Shahid Kapoor talked about the film and his initial response when approached to do a remake of the same. Revealing how he was awestruck with Vijay Deverakonda’s performance in Arjun Reddy, and said:

“I saw Arjun Reddy. Somebody had sent that to my house and I remember me and Mira were sitting and watching the movie. I saw the movie, and I was like ‘This is a damn cool movie, man! This film has done everything that you’re not supposed to do in a movie. And still I’m loving this guy. He’s doing everything a nice guy is not supposed to do. This is so cool, how is this guy like this?'”

Shahid Kapoor on how Mira Rajput convinced him to do ‘Kabir Singh’

In the same interview, Shahid revealed why he was not sure about taking up Kabir Singh initially and said he was not confident whether the audience would accept him as a messed-up character like ‘Kabir Singh’. In his words:

“My first answer was ‘no way am I doing this movie.’ Because this guy is a newcomer and he has done such a good job. So I was like this guy has done his first film. I have worked in so many movies. The way he personifies this character, I don’t know if I’ll be able to because people have already seen me in many different characters. And I finished my whole gyaan, saying that ‘this is my reason, Mira. Mujhe ye film nahi karni chahiye.”

Going further in the interview, Shahid stated that it was his wife, Mira Rajput, who convinced him that he should take up the projects as his fans love to see him in messed up characters. Sharing details about Mira’s reaction, Shahid shared:

“She just kept looking at me and after 5 minutes she was like ‘just shut up and do it. It’s the perfect film for you’. I was like ‘really?’, she was like ‘Yeah. People love to see you in love stories, people love to see you in messed-up characters. This has both! Just do it!’ Her thinking was so simple and I had overcomplicated it for myself and I guess it was good I did Kabir Singh.”

Kabir Singh was an official remake of the Telugu blockbuster, Arjun Reddy, and it revolved around an alcoholic surgeon with anger management issues. With his role as an angsty heartbroken lover with a drinking problem, Shahid’s character in Kabir Singh reminded his fans of his character ‘Tommy Singh’ from Udta Punjab. Kabir Singh was the fourth highest-grossing Bollywood film in 2019.