His new look and physique, followed by the tag of the sexiest vegetarian in Asia by PETA, Shahid Kapoor is surely on the roll with four releases up his sleeve…

“Rumours and controversies are to be taken with a pinch of salt,” says 28-year-old Shahid Kapoor, who seems to have matured much before time. The actor says that he never takes whatever appears in the newspapers seriously. After Kareena Kapoor, he was linked up with Vidya Balan and then there were talks of a break-up with Priyanka Chopra with whom he was linked up with lately, followed by a buzz about director Ken Ghosh and he being up in arms against each other while shooting for the latter’s untitled film. “Actually I am a problem child. Wherever I step in, trouble starts brewing there. In fact, most of the fights that Ken and I have are whether or not he should eat non-vegetarian food whenever we go out for dinner together,” laughs Shahid , who has been adjudged as the sexiest vegetarian in Asia as per PETA. The poll was conducted by PETA in their Asia-Pacific portal. Shahid, however, reminded that this would be their third film together after Ishq Vishk and Fida and that they have always been good friends. “Friends have the right to fight and make up,” he grins.

Shahid says that he even had to bear the brunt for not dancing at a recent award function. It was stated that he apparently backed out after Priyanka Chopra decided not to perform. Laughing it off, Shahid says that he has three films ready and with the producer-multiplex tussle being called off, he decided to concentrate on the post-production and the promotion of these films instead. He insists that during the two-month long stalemate he tried to complete the shooting of the films, which kept him very busy. “The strike was long overdue and it was worth the wait,” he says.

However, Shahid doesn’t believe in clarifying matters because “every time I say something, I see that the media has brewed up another fictional tale out of it. Now, I rather keep my mouth shut and only talk about my forthcoming films”. He has Kaminey releasing on August 14 followed by Haddipa in September and Ken Ghosh’s untitled film in December. Paathshala comes next.

Talking about his first with Vishal Bhardwaj, Shahid says that Kaminey is a very different film from what he has done till date. For the first time in his career, he is playing a double role and he has apparently enjoyed the experience. “A combination of entertainment and newness to the treatment, Kaminey has a very interesting take on double roles. It does not have the typical stereotypes,” he offers, adding that when he heard the script, he decided to do it as “it dealt with real people with real feelings.” Shahid was attracted to the two characters - for both Charlie and Guddu suffer from speech deformities. While Charlie cannot pronounce ‘S’ and says ‘F’ instead, Guddu stammers every time he gets emotional or upset about something. Shahid says it was a challenge to do both the roles and he required at least seven days to gear up to each of the characters. The looks too were slightly different for the characters though both had long hair. “That’s because nothing could be done about the hair,” smiles the young actor, between a spoonful of oatmeal with milk and raisin diet that he relishes .

As for preparing for the role, Shahid says that he had met some doctors and tried to understand the problems of people suffering from speech deformity. “I had to know why the tongue slips while talking in such cases and the problems related to it. I had to also distinguish their attitude and other things,” he said. For the role of Charlie, Shahid had to grow a seven-day stubble and on the eighth day, he had to get into the character of Guddu. “Within 24 hours, I had to become Guddu. It was difficult and one would find me sitting in a corner totally disoriented. However, challenging, this was a highly-creative and the most satisfying experience of my career,” asserts the actor.

Talking about the director, Shahid says, “Since Vishal and my father Pankaj Kapur have made some brilliant films together, it was a pressure on me not to embarrass them with my performance. Working with Vishal, I noticed that he likes to mould every actor differently. He opens a new insight into the character and helps the actor to pull it off convincingly. A brilliant director, he keeps making some equally magnificent films all the time. I must say that with this film, I got to learn a lot about filmmaking and acting as well.”

However, shooting for Kaminey was not always an enjoyable experience at times, laughs the actor, who informs that as many as a 200-member unit had to shoot for 40 nights in uncomfortable conditions. “Two feet of muck along the railway line that was stinking made our lives miserable till we managed to complete the shoot. Of course, the romantic scenes with Priyanka were a saving grace,” he smiles.

Shahid’s face lights up when he gets talking about Haddipa. For the first time, he is working in a Yash Raj film with Rani Mukerji. “What more could I ask for? Featuring in the same frame with her was a big high. She is a great dancer and it is a compliment to match steps with her. I got a lot to learn from her long experience in the industry,” says the actor sporting a wide smile. Apparently, she is playing a guy in the film, so what is he doing there? He laughs aloud saying, “All I can say is that I am playing a guy as well.” He goes on to reveal that it is a fun film with excellent music and a Punjabi flavour to it. He is not clear about the final title of the film that was incidentally with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. “It was to be called Dil Bole Haddipa but I am not sure of any change in the title,” he rues.

A perfectionist that he is, Shahid says, Aditya Chopra would also be guiding him. “He is very focussed on creativity,” said Shahid. Denying that Aditya was unhappy with most of the scenes and wanted them re-shot, the actor states that after the film was completed, they did go back to shoot some patchwork scenes. “And that was for only two hours, if that is called re-shooting for the film!” he says, adding that the experience with YRF has been so great that he reveals that he is now doing another film with them that is to be directed by actor Parmeet Sethi and will have Anushka Sharma as his co-star.

Ken Ghosh’s untitled film has Genelia D’Souza as the heroine with whom Shahid has been paired for the first time. The biggest high about this film for Shahid, however, is the choreography by Martin who has made Justin Timberlake dance to his tunes. “I was on cloud nine to be on the same sets as he,” beams the actor.

Shahid’s last release of the year would be Paathshala, in which he makes a special appearance. However, he says that the film has a special place in his heart as he got to work with young schoolkids. He, incidentally, took up the role as director Ahmed Khan is a good friend. “It was an enjoyable experience for me as it is the first time I have worked with kids and they are amazing. They are so spontaneous,” he informs.

After this, Shahid will finally start shooting for his dad Pankaj Kapur’s long pending film by the year end. This yet untitled project is a love story that will have a new girl opposite Shahid.

The year surely looks quite fruitful for the actor and he hopes that there would be some good work in the coming years too.