Shahid Kapoor –” I felt that if you go on OTT you can make a different relationship with the audiences"

Shahid Kapoor chats one day before the release of his forthcoming OTT debut series in the Raj & DK project,"Farzi" With Vijay Sethupati and Raashii Khanna premiered on Prime Video.

What made you choose an OTT project?

People feel that after Covid that people want to come on OTT.   But Raj and DK had approached me before covid for the film and they had shared the script with me. I had loved the idea then but I had no idea that they would turn it into a series.   I had asked them if they have any shows and they were very surprised and they were wondering why I would want to do a Web series after the success of Kabir Singh. They said why do you want to do a show right now especially since Kabir Singh has been a huge success.  I had loved their work and I have liked Family Man and they were doing Family Man 2 series also.  I had watched the show in just two to three days as I had loved it so much.   I always wanted to get into this space as I watch a lot of international shows too.

Adding further choosing to debut on OTT he quips,” I felt that if you go on OTT you can make a different relationship with the audiences. It’s an entirely different experience as you watch it in the space of your home.  It’s a lengthy content of five to six hours. The story is told in a longer format You can define the graph of the character in a more intense way.  That’s why I always wanted to do it. I felt that I should do it someday.  In the last two and half years people have been consuming OTT in a big way. OTT has its own space while films have their own space.  I wanted to do it.  Since they had thought of it as a film, they felt that the story would not fit in a two and half hour length.  When they started “Family Man” they turned the script into a longer format . The timing may vary from one hour to 50 minutes but you have more time to narrate your story.  If people love the story they can take the story forward to a new season too.  I have been doing films for a long time and I had never experienced this so I took it up.  What they eventually did was a better decision. Now when I watch the show in a flow I feel in every situation they have dealt with characters in depth, they could also work in detail on the world of counterfeiting.

Were you surprised when you got to know about the fake notes?

It was very shocking. A common man does not realize that there are counterfeit notes. You might be having it but you can’t make out the difference.

When it comes to date issues how did you manage to give them so much time?

I have never had date issues.  Years a show requires more time but I have done all kinds of films, When I did  Haider we shot in  50 days, Padmavat we shot for 250 days, Jab We Met was shot in 70 days. Every film has a different requirement. I am very used to that. I work according to the requirements of the subject.  I have never had date issues. Many people often ask me what more am I doing?  I never tell what I am doing next until I am sure.  Like the last two years so much had been planned and films were in the pipeline. Times changed and what was in the pipeline is released now.  Now that they are releasing, people are not excited about it. So you have to be open to new and exciting stories. Sometimes we commit ourselves to four or five projects and sometimes films are made on similar topics and you get stuck with it. We shot the series in around 130 to 140 days.

How was your experience of working with K.K. Menon, Vijay Setupati and Amol Palekar?

I like to work with K.K.Menon even if I don’t have any dialogues in the scene. I love working with him and I have memories of doing Haider with him. We had some lovely and intense scenes together. I always wanted to work with him but during this show he didn’t have dates.  Since it was during the pandemic all was delayed and every one had choc-O-block dates. We worked during the waves. If the wave was complete we would start shooting. We waited for KK Menon’s dates for three to four months. Raj and DK and all of us used to discuss that we should go ahead with another actor but everytime we ended up saying that we should wait for K.K.Menon. Even in this series, I have few dialogues with him, I just listen to him and they are my most favourite scenes. Acting is basically reacting, so when an actor is performing so beautifully you have to just react and the feeling comes.  If you are a secure actor, you don’t keep in mind that they are his scenes or my lines. With time you can enjoy silence, dialogues, loud characters, subtle characters,   I don’t have many scenes with Vijay Setupati as we have parallel leads.  I have seen his films and I feel he is a pure artist. He always chooses different roles and presents himself very differently in every role to the audiences. That’s totally my space and I connect with him. I hope we get to do more work together. He is also very spontaneous and I enjoy that. Amol Sir  as Nanu was the soul of the show and integrity of the show. I worked with Rashi for the first time. I enjoyed working with her. Her character in the show is very different and we had a great time working together. Then there’s Bhuvan , he’s new and not many know him but after the show people are going to love him as Feroz in the show.