Harshvarrdhan Kapoor is an anomaly. In show business, a trait one often comes across is how people love talking about themselves incessantly to promote a certain image. But not Harsh. He has no qualms admitting he possesses many weaknesses. Yes, plural. For someone who hails from a family of successful stars, it is easy to assume that Harsh is well-versed in ‘handling’ media, and giving them exactly what they want. But the 30-year-old actor is as honest as they come.
As I glance over my list of questions for Harsh, I realise that it has been a week since Netflix’s Ray—an anthology series based on Satyajit Ray’s stories—has released. And one of the four stories, Spotlight, starring Harsh, has received rave reviews. As we begin the Zoom interview, the actor tells me he is feeling “very depleted after the release”. “There is so much adrenaline and anxiety leading up to the release, you know, and it drains you,” he elaborates. During the course of our conversation, Harsh insists that while he is carefully crafting his filmography, by picking the kind of scripts that resonate with him, he is not fixated on the legacy he leaves behind. “When I look back at the films that I have done, they are quite cool and unique in my opinion. And I feel very grateful. I don’t think a lot of people get the chance to make movies like that. Whether they are good or bad is not my place to say, but what I can guarantee is that these films are very honest and progressive. So, the fact that I have been able to do that so early in my career is a huge blessing,” he adds.
Here is an excerpt from our candid conversation, where Harsh speaks about not being a typical star kid, constantly working on his craft and himself, and why his privacy is of the utmost importance to him.
Cosmo: We have seen you on the silver screen after a long hiatus…
“It is true, but a lot of released [in 2018], everything had to be done in a certain way because it was a theatre release. But luckily for me, things changed, and then happened, followed by . I have been working on another thriller, which will be releasing towards the end of the year. I feel you sometimes identify the films that you want to work in, but they can take a while to get going…especially if they don’t necessarily fall in the ‘conventional’ category, or cannot be promoted in the conventional way.”
