Shahid Kapoor calls Kabir Singh a ‘modern aggressive version’ of Shah Rukh Khan’s Devdas

Actor Shahid Kapoor says he was looking for an emotionally intense story post the success of his last release “Kabir Singh” and found that in “Jersey”, a redemptive drama of a former cricketer picking up the bat again for his son.

The 41-year-old actor – who has attained both commercial success and critical acclaim with films such as “Ishq Vishk”, “Jab We Met”, “Vivah”, “Kaminey”, “Haider” and “Kabir Singh” among others – said his aim was to entertain the audience with a story that is peppered with romance, emotion and has its fun moments. “After I did ‘Kabir Singh’, I wanted to find a story which can give the audience a complete experience. People do come with expectations after you have given them an experience that stays with them, which ‘Kabir Singh’ was. I have worked very hard to find a subject which had the emotional potential and the story to stay true to people’s expectations,” Shahid told PTI in an interview.

“Kabir Singh”, directed by Sandeep Vanga Reddy, was a remake of the 2017 film “Arjun Reddy”. The Hindi version received mixed to negative reviews from critics but it turned out to be one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of 2019.

“Jersey” would be the second film where Shahid is working on a remake but the actor is of the belief that good content travels with time, irrespective of the language or culture it is set in.

“I do feel within the Hindi film industry, we are struggling to find good stories. It is important to recognise the fact that today a real star or superstar or someone who is widely connecting with people would be the kind of person, who collaborates with the right kind of content creators,” he said, crediting the OTT boom for opening up people to stories of all kinds.