Shraddha Kapoor would have been really heartbroken if she wasn’t in Half Girlfriend. It is her third film with director Mohit Suri. She is his muse. He even made the actor sing in his last film, Ek Villain. This time though, Suri has adapted Chetan Bhagat’s book of the same name. Kapoor hasn’t read the book – Suri asked her not to; he wanted her to just read the script. “This film is an intense love story,” she tells us, as we sit with her to talk about her upcoming film. Excerpts from the interview.
What is the meaning of a ‘half girlfriend’?
I have experienced being someone’s half girlfriend. I have had feelings for the other person but felt like I have not been able to entirely commit – whether I have enough time for a relationship or not at that point. And I feel it is very existent in today’s time. It’s just that we are addressing it through our film. I feel that there are so many people out there who face [something] that prevents them from entirely committing to the other person. It could be something they’ve gone through that probably made them re-evaluate their beliefs about love; or the opposition, may be from [their] parents. And pertaining to our story, Riya (Kapoor’s character) says that she would be Madhav’s (Arjun Kapoor’s character) half girlfriend because she has actually gone through something traumatic, which is why, she is afraid to love.
How can someone invest emotionally only half?
Sometimes you can be a little held back.
You’ve been someone’s “half girlfriend” before. Has that helped you understand your character better?
I related to Riya more [because of the] fact that she likes simple things in life that actually make her happy, even though she is probably one of the richest students in her college. [She] comes from an affluent background, has the best of [everything]… what she wears, the car that she travels in. Everyone around her feels, ‘ yaar iske paas toh sab kuch hai, yeh toh bahut khush hogi ’. But actually, no, she’s not. There’s a certain amount of emptiness inside her because the world that she comes from has a very superficial existence which she doesn’t connect to. Her happiness is determined by simple things… like the rain makes her happy, so she gets wet in the rain.
Your last film OK Jaanu was also an unconventional, millennial story.
I couldn’t imagine these films being made during Guru Dutt’s time. I feel like, it is how society is evolving that these kinds of films are being made.
Would you say these films will only resonate with a younger audience?
No. I think they can cater to the whole spectrum of the audience.
What do you think it is about this generation that such stories being made into films?
See the way the world has become, how people are livings their lives: divorce rates are high, people are getting married later, people are not getting married [at all], people are in live-in relationships. The world has changed from, say, 50 years ago, right?
Then there’s Tinder that has changed millennial relationships…
Tinder, Grindr, and whatever…
Have you tried any of those apps?
No. But I have nothing against people who would want to be on that app. I have friends who have accounts.
Never made you curious to join?
Recently, I went through a friend’s Tinder account, just for fun. I was very amused by it.
You’re working on Haseena (biopic of Dawood’s sister Haseena Parkar) and have signed on to star in the biopic of badminton player Saina Nehwal. These are your first largely woman-centric films.
Right. We have about three days of shoot left for Haseena . It’s been a very different experience; my first biopic of an actual person who’s no more, sadly. It was very challenging, my first ever grey-shaded character. And now I am playing Saina Nehwal, so I am really excited about that as well.
