"When a bad film works, it also hurts a little", says Rajkummar Rao on Film Companion Actors’ Adda 2022

The year's biggest Pan-Indian actors—Rishab Shetty, Anil Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Janhvi Kapoor, Dulquer Salmaan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vijay Varma, Sheeba Chadha and Rajkummar Rao—came together for The Film Companion Actors’ Adda 2022.

Anupama Chopra brought these exceptional talents together to discuss the year that was, break down scenes from their films and name performances from the year that made them jealous.

Rishab Shetty on life after Kantara said, “Nothing has changed for me after Kantara and it will not. It will always stay the same. Whenever I start working on my next film, I will start it exactly how I did Kantara. I have always believed in starting from scratch. I only bring the idea of success to my heart but do not let it go to my mind.”

Janhvi Kapoor spoke about how social media presence cannot be confused for stardom. She said, “If all 21 million of my Instagram followers came and watched Mili it would’ve been a huge hit. So as actors today if you have a social media presence then that makes you an influencer and an actor. And being an influencer might make your stardom more accessible."

Vidya Balan spoke in favour of women-led films. The Jalsa actor said, “We’ve worked so hard as women to have a certain standing today where we are headlining more films so I love how post-pandemic because the men’s films aren’t working they turn around and say that the women’s films are not going to work all the more. How ridiculous. What about Gangubai Kathiawadi? It did better than most male hero-driven films.”

Ayushmann Khurrana discussed a scene from his film that really terrified him. “In 'An Action Hero', when I had just recovered from COVID, the doctor told me not to exert myself too much and I had to run the first 5 days. It was my first action film and there was this hunger to just do something very different and out of my skin.”

Dulquer Salmaan and Rajkummar Rao addressed the changing nature of stardom.
Dulquer said, “I am not chasing superstardom. I want to just really try and find films that either challenge me as an actor or it's a film that I want to watch.”

While Rajkummar Rao said, “When a good film doesn't work, it really hurts. When a bad film works, it also hurts a little bit. So I just hope we make good films and they do good work.”

Watch The Film Companion Actors’ Adda here: