Shahid Kapoor has successfully emerged as a chocolate boy of the industry. Last seen romancing Sonam Kapoor in ‘Mausam’, Shahid’s next is another love flick, ‘Teri Meri Kahaani’, opposite Priyanka Chopra. Shahid talks about the film.

On love stories in general
Some of my most successful films have been love stories. However, these days it is very difficult to find interesting subjects for love stories. Usually, a couple falls in love, there are some romantic songs and then a sad song, after which everything ends happily. I wanted to work on a different kind of love story, which was a bit difficult. So whenever I listen to scripts, I look for that distinctness.

On playing three characters in one film
Two people meet in the pre-independence era in 1910, in a little village near Lahore largely populated by Muslims. After which they meet in 1960s and then in 2012. The film talks about how things take place at that time. All of this if you were to see in one love story simultaneously, it would be very interesting. That is what I find so exciting, the three different worlds.

On his favorite character of the three
I decided to do the whole film just for the character of Javed from the 1910s. Usually, movies based in the pre-independence era are full of strong emotions and national integration. However, this is probably the first film where the hero is only interested in wooing women. Javed is a village Casanova; he is not worried about independence and British rule. His shayari is simply a pick-up line, he doesn’t even pursue poetry professionally. He is actually the opposite of those characters who fight for independence. Javed’s only agenda in life is love.

On shayari
I have never had much exposure towards shayari, but when I heard the ones in the script, I found them all very interesting. After our movie, maybe shayari could work as a new pick-up line, a trend in itself.

On love in real life
A lot of people have been asking me about my love life, but I’m not going to answer that. Since I like the character of Javed, I would like to make it clear that I have not used many pick-up lines in my life and have never even written any shayari.

On success
With every film, you work hard, you want it to do well. We have made this film with a lot of fun, which it reflects. We are happy with the way the film is looking. I am very passionate about all the films I do. I always hope and pray that my movies are liked and accepted.

On future projects
I had told myself that after ‘Mausam’, I will do only three films a year. But my luck is bad. I don’t know why but it is so strange that I haven’t been on any set much after I finished ‘Teri Meri Kahaani’. Unfortunately Maneesh (Sharma, director) fell ill, so now we’ll be shooting in Jaipur in July for Yash Raj Films (untitled project). For now, it is too hot to shoot there, so we will have to wait for the temperature to go down.

On being choosy
I don’t think I am very choosy about my films, maybe three-four years ago I was. But now I am very keen to get on the sets, because I have had a lot of free time and have realised that I am the happiest when on the sets. So I am looking forward to doing a lot of films and am going to have a couple of busy years now.