Looking Forward to a Good 2026
Shahid talks of his passions — fashion and cinema
For Shahid Kapoor, fashion is a form of self-expression. Back in New Delhi as the showstopper at the Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour for Falguni and Shane Peacock’s Future-verse of Fashion, he walked the ramp amid robots and AI-generated visuals. The actor said AI is “not something we can run away from.” Shahid is also shooting in Delhi for Homi Adajania’s Cocktail 2, with Kriti Sanon and Rashmika Mandanna.
The film is a sequel to the 2012 hit starring Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan, though the actor stresses that it’s a fresh story with new characters, set within the Cocktail universe. “I haven’t done a film like this in a while, and Homi did a great job with the first one. I get his humour, and the realistic way he treats it,” Shahid says. Known for both commercial and critically acclaimed roles in Jab We Met, Kaminey, Haider, Udta Punjab, and Kabir Singh, the actor completes 23 years in the industry this year. As the film business continues to evolve, he remains pragmatic. “I always fall back on quality. Sometimes it’s niche, sometimes it appeals to a broader audience, but for me it’s about taking cinema forward and playing characters. You have to listen to the audience—understand when they’re happy, when they’re not, and why. It’s a two-way relationship.” With Cocktail 2 and Vishal Bhardwaj’s O’ Romeo slated for 2026, Shahid says he’s “looking forward to another good year.”