Shanaya Kapoor says shelving of Karan Johar’s Bedhadak ‘made me who I am today’: ‘My dad always said to me…’

In an exclusive interview with SCREEN, Shanaya Kapoor looks back at initial setbacks in her career and how the shelving of Bedhadak completely changed her career trajectory.

Even before the release of her debut film, Shanaya Kapoor already had multiple offers in her kitty. After all, she was an up and coming star, with an Instgram following running in millions, and also the daughter of actor and ’90s star Sanjay Kapoor and Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives star Maheep Kapoor.

But then, a couple of setbacks happened which changed the course of her career trajectory. She was a part of a dream launch called Bedhadak opposite The Ba***ds of Bollywood star Lakshya, with Shashank Khaitan as the director and Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions as the banner. But owing to creative differences, the project got shelved.

“I feel everything happens for a reason. What’s meant to be will be. I’m glad about the whole experience now that I sit here and look back at it. It’s shaped who I am today. The film getting shelved, and certain projects happening and then not happening, made me who I am today. It made me work on my craft much more during the time I wasn’t facing the camera,” Shanaya told SCREEN in an exclusive interview while promoting her new movie, Bejoy Nambiar’s romantic adventure thriller Tu Yaa Main, in which she’s cast opposite Adarsh Gourav.

She made her debut last year in a role opposite Vikrant Massey in Santosh Singh’s romantic drama Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan. That was months after her casting didn’t materialize in Nanda Kishore’s pan-India fantasy action film Vrusshabha, starring Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. Acting on an advice from her father, Shanaya kept her focus on becoming an actor instead of just a star.

“My dad always said to me, ‘If you’re not getting the chance to perform in front of the camera, pick a scene and perform in front of the audience. But keep working at it. Keep your head down because that’s not in your control. Focus on that because what’s not in your control, you can’t do anything about it. So, what’s in your hands is you can keep working and making yourself a better performer, a better actor,” says Shanaya, whose father Sanjay Kapoor is now one of the busiest actors in India despite his decline as a star in the 1990s.

“Working with a director like Bejoy sir, an actor like Adarsh, and with Aanand (L Rai) sir backing a project I’m a part of makes you overwhelmed and makes you understand the universe had its own plans and it was supposed to happen in the way it all did,” added Shanaya, who’s now a part of the series follow-up to Karan Johar’s 2012 campus caper Student of the Year.

Shanaya’s journey also started behind the camera instead of in front of it. “I used to love being on the stage in school. I was never the main character. I was once just the ‘wind’ in one of the plays, and I had the best time doing that! There was a Cinderella play happening, and all the girls were auditioning for Cinderella obviously, but I just wanted to be the backstage manager,” recalls Shanaya.

Shanaya then went on to become an Assistant Director on Sharan Sharma’s Netflix India movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargill Girl, which was produced by Karan Johar and starred Janhvi Kapoor in the lead role. Shanaya will now finally star in a Dharma Productions project, playing the lead character in a series follow-up to Johar’s 2012 hit directorial Student of the Year.

Also Read: Salman Khan rushes to Mumbai hospital as Salim Khan admitted to ICU

“Being an assistant director just opened my eyes. More than the acting bug, it made me realize the value of filmmaking a lot more. There’s so much that happens in just creating the moment of an actor walking from point A to point B. The audience just feels it’s a moment gone by, but there’s a lot of time and effort that go into just that passing shot,” adds Shanaya.