All guns blazing

It's a double delight for Bollywood fans this weekend. With actress Karisma Kapoor set to make her comeback in Dangerous Ishq, newcomers Arjun Kapoor and one-film-old Parineeti Chopra may have to jostle for space as they roll out their unconventional romance Ishaqzaade. But Arjun Kapoor, who plays a gun-toting Parma in the rustic love story, is unfazed. "Both films have individual spaces," said Kapoor, son of producer Boney Kapoor, in an exclusive interview with tabloid! from Mumbai. "She's [Karisma Kapoor] a very big star in her own right and we are newcomers. I don't think we should even be compared. She's a very good friend of mine and I hope both our films do well," said Kapoor, who had earlier assisted the director of Karisma-starrer Shakti: The Power. He may come off as a benevolent soul in real life but on the big screen it's all about pulling the gun trigger and scaring his enemies into submission. Kapoor, 26, has chosen a violent story to make his Bollywood entry. Currently, he has swapped roses for guns and candle-light dinners in chic restaurants for rendezvous with his lover in a graveyard or near the train tracks. "My character Parma is like an animal. He barely thinks and he just does what he feels like. And he is not exactly a law-abiding citizen in this one. There's no law because [we] make our own laws. And even when he falls in love, he falls in love in that volatile, aggressive, fun-loving way." Bloodthirsty Surprisingly, his lover enacted by Chopra of Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl fame, is also a gun-toting, bloodthirsty young woman. "He has met his match. That's the attraction between them. If he is roaming around with a gun, so is she. I guess that's why guns are such an integral part of our love story. If Parma is violence-prone, then watch out for Zoya." Meanwhile, Chopra who's terrified of guns in real life had to learn a thing or two about using weapons convincingly. "We are using guns the way you and I carry phones in our pockets. Instead of mobile phones, we just roam around with guns but the tough part was to make it look like it came to us naturally. We had to look as if we owned the gun and I had to learn how to load, unload on real stuff — that was a bit scary." But looking armed and fabulous was not their sole challenge. Recently, Kapoor came under the scanner when heavyweight Salman Khan allegedly refused to promote the actor on Twitter. Patronise Those in the dark about Bollywood proceedings, it's common for a big star with a large fan following, to patronise and talk up newcomers. Rumour mills have attributed the snub to Kapoor's fall-out with Khan's sister Arpita on the dating front. Plus, this development comes as a surprise since Kapoor considers Khan his mentor who prodded him to shed 50 kilograms so that he could try his hand at acting. Till then, Kapoor was content making things happen by assisting directors and producers. "He doesn't need to patronise me on Twitter. I don't think Salman Khan needs to come to me and subscribe to me on a social medium. Today Yash Raj production is the biggest in Bollywood and he [Salman Khan] is doing Yash Raj's next film with them. So he knows how they function. So yes, if I were doing an independent feature, I may have needed him to substantiate me," said Kapoor referring to Yash Raj Films and their stellar reputation of producing good cinema. "But my equation stands firm with him. Also, my father has worked with him and I am very close to him and his entire family is close to me. So I don't give those reports any credibility or importance." Fortunately for Kapoor, Khan relented his hardline stand last month and tweeted Kapoor's name in that obscure, random style of his. "Yup ! Arjun ranawat in my janambhumi [birthplace] INDORE [sic]," Khan tweeted and later clarified saying, "Yup! I call arjun kapoor arjun ranawat [sic]." It's not a blatant boast of the young star's talents but even a slight nod from Khan has proved to be lucky for many newcomers, including Ali Zafar. The Pakistani pop idol courted instant Bollywood fame when Khan acknowledged his debut film Tere Bin Laden on Twitter. Apart from slamming reports of a cold war, Kapoor admits that Khan was the first person in show business who had faith in him, "I was the associate producer of Wanted, Salman Bhai's film. So I hung around the sets and that's where I formed an equation with him. It led to friendship and he guided me saying that I should pursue acting and not directing as a career option. And he said if I didn't, I would regret it 10 years down the line." This happened five years ago when Kapoor weighed a whopping 130 kilograms. "That's why I laugh at this whole thing of Salman Bhai not wanting to promote me, etc, etc. Primarily it was him who taught me, mentored and literally made me live with him — watched over my food, saw what I ate and cleaned up my diet. I have learnt everything about my fitness from him." Weight loss Khan may have helped Kapoor in the drastic weight loss but it was Chopra who helped him stay off the fried foods while shooting in Lucknow. "The heroine was 85 kilos and obese. So we both were overweight and that's how our bonding began. Both are foodies and both were ex-obese people. There's a certain connection there," said Chopra. They may have bonded on their mission to ward off kebabs, but they belong to different schools when it comes to acting out their roles. "I was very spontaneous on sets — only because I don't know any other way. I have not grown up on films like Arjun and I am not really a movie buff. He's a prepared actor who grew up with the film industry behind him. He has certain notions in his head about how a scene should look, but I didn't have any such influences per se." While Chopra can only boast of her cousin Priyanka Chopra in Bollywood's inner circle, Kapoor has a rich lineage including Anil Kapoor as his uncle, Sonam Kapoor as his cousin and legendary actress Sri Devi as his stepmother. "The one thing that happens when you live in a film family [is that], the industry is a part and parcel of every breakfast, lunch and dinner conversations. So I knew how important it was to get a Yash Raj film to thrive in Bollywood… And all that my father said is: make the most of Ishaqzaade. I did that."