Shahid Kapoor: 'I Have A Need To Be Loved'

Way back in 2003, I had gone to Kamalistan Studios for a media interaction with the stars of Ishq Vishk, a new heroine and hero. I was on the sets a couple of hours, but came back without any interviews. I had just spent time with two children, and they had but their freshness and youth to aid them. They had no stories to tell, their dreams had only just begun. They were shy, and sehma hua, unlike today's brash bunch. They were like unmoulded clay, yet to take shape. They were Amrita Rao and Shahid Kapoor. 

- Suguna Sundaram 

I waited my turn to interview Shahid when he had grown as an actor. I've followed his career trajectory right from Ishq Vishk. Our paths never crossed over the time he was strengthening his craft. I never entered his life. 14 years, many films, a marriage and a child later, I thought it was high time I talked to him. I am no expert on Shahid. I didn't know him. But I had a reasonably good conjecture of what he might be like. He is a man who makes you immediately conscious of his personal space. He's remarkably lucid and crisp. And he thinks all the time, even though his answers came pat. I also thought Shahid Kapoor had incredibly good taste as I waited in his basement den. Done up in leather and wood, in black, white and grey, it was a masculine space, but felt well broken in - not just cosmetically good looking. Like Shahid. He was also impeccably turned out, in the coolest hair, and pair of glasses I have ever seen. I defocussed right there. The rest was a short ride turned long with conversation, in his fancy truck, packed to capacity with everything he would need for the day. And he's suljha hua today. I was glad he talked. And it was the softer shades of unseen... 

What is the most exciting thing happening in your life right now?

Well, on the personal front, it is obviously fatherhood. It is very exciting and very new. 

You are a hands-on father?

I don't know what the standards of a hands-on father are. But yes, I am trying to do everything I possibly can. I've been told that I am a bit obsessive and a bit too into it. And that I need to chill out and go work. That's what I've been hearing a lot now. 

Playing hooky from work to be with baby?