Then and now, gossip mills have been abuzz with stories that Shahid Kapoor maybe a difficult actor to work with. While no filmmaker has publicly stated so, there are some long-standing industry perceptions
suggesting that he had a certain reputation in his initial acting years. In fact, during the promotions of his 2012 film Teri Meri Kahaani, he addressed these hearsays and stated that being a ‘private person’ has led many to perceive him as a ‘snob’. He also added that he was rather temperamental at 22.
Earlier today, at the trailer launch event of Shahid’s upcoming film O Romeo, Vishal Bhardwaj took a jibe at these speculations surrounding the actor and quipped, “I’m hesitating to share this but I shall. I’ve won nine National Awards so far. It may sound like I’m being arrogant about my achievements but this context is important. My director friends often joke with me that I should win my tenth National Award just for working with Shahid on four films.” For the unversed, O Romeo marks their fourth film after Kaminey, Haider and Rangoon.
Vishal, in fact, went to then credit Shahid for being able to take directions from a ‘difficult’ person like him. “But they don’t know how difficult a person I’m to work with. Only Shahid knows this. He understands my passive aggression. I think Shahid should win a National Award for working with me on four films,” he remarked. Shahid later quipped, “Vishal sir’s a person who praises you in person but public mein, pant utaar dete hai. But he has a certain sense of humour. He always expresses himself a certain way. It takes many years to learn that. Rekha ma’am would agree. But finally, I maybe getting there (smirks).”
Back in 2009, there were reports of an alleged tiff between Shahid and Vishal but the former later clarified that it was a creative difference as opposed to a major fallout. Reacting to these reports, Vishal shared that the media loves cooking such stories. “But hum logo ke beech mein aisa nahi hota. Shahid and me is a jodi like Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji. People are excited that we’re collaborating again. There’s some magic that gets created when we come together. I don’t know how it gets created, why it happens. I can’t explain that,” he added.
Vishal also heaped praises on Shahid, saying, “I’ve worked with Pankaj (Kapur) ji, Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) bhai and Om (Puri) ji. But I don’t have any qualms about stating that if not the finest, then Shahid’s one of the finest of this generation. His performances have a lot of depth and I think he has inherited it from his father and his mother (Neelima Azeem). After working with him on so many films, I feel that he has the intelligence to derive experiences from his life and his journey and use them in his performances.”
