Arjun Kapoor on Sardar Ka Grandson: I think we need to look at me as the ideal Punjabi boy

Arjun Kapoor is all set to make his OTT debut with Kaashvie Nair’s Sardar Ka Grandson. The comedy drama film, releasing on May 18, features Kapoor in the role of Amreek Singh - a US-based Punjabi boy who returns to his hometown Amritsar when his ailing grandmother seems to be nearing the end of her days.

Kapoor, who plays the grandson of Neena Gupta in the film, has brought to life a character that is reckless, stubborn and unable to accept his mistakes. But when Sardar (Gupta) expresses her one wish before dying - to visit her old house in Lahore - a sense of duty awakens in him and he rises to the occasion to make Sardar’s dream come true.

Watch the interview with Arjun, Rakul and Kaashvie here- 

If Kapoor’s filmography is traced, the fact that he has primarily enacted roles of North Indian men belonging to middle-class families becomes evident; in Mubarakan, he played the dual role of two Punjabi twin brothers separated at birth, he portrays a North Indian college student in Half Girlfriend and will be seen as Satinder ‘Pinky’ Dahiya in Sandeep aur Pinky Farar.

When asked by OTTPlay if there is a reason behind him predominantly playing such characters, he said, “If you notice, the majority of films in our country are based in the Northern part of our country because you get a lot of visual textures here. Sardar Ka Grandson could perhaps have been made in any other part of the country. But the joint-family dynamics are a little more simplified in the Northern region, in terms of treating it like one big house. The texture and culture just gets imbibed. So more than me playing North Indian characters, a lot more writing happens in that part.”

Further on essaying Punjabi characters, he said, “I’ve played a Punjabi who lives abroad in Mubarakan, played a Punjabi who lives in Delhi and even played a Punjabi who is a house husband. So playing a Punjabi boy or a Sardar boy doesn't really confine me to playing it the same way. I think we need to then look at me as the ideal Punjabi boy - both on screen and off screen.”

The actor, who will be seen in Pavan Kirpalani’s Bhoot Police next, also elaborated on whether he wants to explore other kinds of roles in the future.

“There is a lot that I would like to do. But right now, I’m at that phase where I let things come to me rather than chasing. It is also exciting to know how the people are seeing me, like producers and directors. I was told in the beginning that I should do a lot of action films, then I tried to do romantic films and those worked. Now, I’m doing Ek Villain Again which is an action film, Bhoot Police which is a horror comedy with two brothers and I’ve done Sardar Ka Grandson. Maybe the selection came out of the material finding me, rather than me chasing it.”

Talking about what drew him to the character of Amreek in Sardar Ka Grandson, he divulged, “As Punjabi as the character is, Amreek for me was exciting because I’ve never done a coming-of-age film. Amreek comes of age over the course of this film - he is a guy who can barely say sorry to his girlfriend without having an ego and by the end of it, he’s willing to fold his hands and request, literally beg, people and the government to just fulfill a wish of his grandmother’s.”

Drawing parallels to the characters some of his contemporaries have played so far, the actor said, “I’ve perhaps not found the right romantic coming-of-age film, like how Ranbir (Kapoor) has done Rockstar or Tamasha or Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. But Sardar Ka Grandson for me appealed to this. Sometimes you might want to do a film in your mind in a certain way, but something comes to you and it attracts you, you do it. Sardar Ka Grandson is a coming-of-age film for me, rather than just a Punjabi boy fulfilling his grandmother’s Punjabi wish.”

Sardar Ka Grandson also stars Rakul Preet Singh and Neena Gupta in lead roles. Set in modern day Amritsar with flashbacks to post-partition Lahore, the film is releasing on Netflix on May 18.