Arjun Kapoor, who plays a stay-at-home husband in his next film, talks about inheriting a sensitive side from his mother and being on the cusp of starting off a debate about role reversal in marriage.
Do you think our society is ready for the idea of a man as the housewife?
Why not? Why can’t the woman go out to work while the man stays back to look after their home? It’s a story that was waiting to be told. If it works, it can start off a whole debate.
You think this film can encourage more men to be homemakers?
I feel there are lots of guys like Kabir who would like to look after their homes. But the narrow-minded elements in society don’t allow them to flourish.
Did you have second thoughts about whether your pairing with Kareena Kapoor Khan would work in Ki & Ka?
No, Balki chose her because we needed a woman — not a girl — who had to be at the cusp of choosing between home and career. I was already on board when Kareena came in. She is beautiful to look at and conducts herself with tremendous dignity. We needed a heroine about whom people wouldn’t turn around and say, ‘Arrey, yeh to mardon ki duniya mein mard ban gayi.’
Your character in Ki & Ka is quite unconventional. Any trepidation about audiences not relating to him?
It takes time for people to warm up to my character Kabir. But he is not complicated. He is what that song in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na says about Shah Rukh Khan — Woh toh hai albela, hazaaron mein akela. Besides, if you are loved by your partner, you naturally become attractive to people. We’re saying, if two people fall in love with each other, then they are not answerable to the society.
Do you believe you can be like this guy when you get married?
Agar main ghar chalaunga main ghar barbaad kar dunga. (I’d destroy a house if I tried to run it). I can be supportive and encouraging, but I can’t run the house.
But I must say that contrary to the way I look, I have a gentle side, which I’ve inherited from my mom. I look like my father but I think like my mother.
Your sister looks a lot like your father (Boney Kapoor)
Even I do. My walking style, the way I interact with people and my physicality — are like my father’s. But my thought process is like my mother’s.
Why are you doing so little work? Besides Ki & Ka you have only signed Half Girlfriend…
All my contemporaries are working that way. Ranbir Kapoor has only Jagga Jasoos. Ranveer Singh is doing only Befikre. Please don’t forget that I also did the maximum number of films in the shortest span of time after I made my debut.
After Tevar, I decided to take it easy. Because promoting a film is as gruelling as making it. I am now doing only Half Girlfriend in which I play a Bihari boy very far removed from the way Biharis are perceived in our films. He is an intelligent guy who plays basketball. I am working on the accent and the body language.
Don’t you think too much time and money is spent on promotion?
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
