In your upcoming film Shiddat, you stumble across the love of your life in Paris. If you were to go there alone today, who would you want to bump into?
The charm of being in Paris would be to connect with a stranger, someone I don’t know even remotely.
And what if you discovered, like your character Jaggi, that she is engaged to someone else and determined to go through with the marriage?
I would first try and understand if I really mean something to her and if so, then why she is going through with the marriage. I would respect her feelings, give her space and time…
Is there a real-life love story that has inspired you?
I’m in love with my parent’s love story. They had an arranged marriage, then, my mother left her home in Punjab to set up a home with dad (action director Sham Kaushal) in a chawl in Malad (a suburb in Mumbai). I’ve grown up hearing sweet little stories of how they bought their first TV set, atte ka dabba… They built their life together from scratch, moved to a bigger place, had us, and we became a family.
You’ve spent the lockdown with your family, working out and experimenting in the kitchen with brother Vicky Kaushal.
(Laughs) We’ve always shared this kind of camaraderie, it was just that back then we were so bored, we started documenting it on social media.
Has the on-going pandemic changed relationships?
It’s jolted us because now we know how ephemeral life is. Today, we’ve become more appreciative of those we truly love and the need to keep them close.
Right now, all talk of love and romance, sagai and shaadi revolves around your brother and his rumoured girlfriend Katrina Kaif.
Yeah, and knowing there’s no truth in them, we take these rumours with a pinch of salt and a laugh. And leave it at that.
You recently completed another film, Hurdang, a love story set against the backdrop of the student agitation in Allahabad in the ’90s.
We had just a couple of scenes left, halted by the pandemic. Once work resumed, everything started at once and we had to wait to see who would be available when. Finally, one day, Nushrratt (Bharuchha), Vijay Varma and I got together and completed the film.
After months of sitting at home, how does it feel to get back to shooting?
Grateful. As actors, we are who we are because people watch us and are entertained by us. Thankfully, now we have new platforms to showcase our work to the world. The OTT boom is heartening, as it is offering opportunities to not just actors, but everyone in the creative field to explore.
Theatres are a cultural phenomenon, you can never take the 70 mm experience away. But they are still to open fully. And even when they do, I hope we can create a system where both can co-exist.
Shiddat starts streaming on Disney+Hotstar from October 1. One will have to wait and see if Jaggi gets his Kartika, but in real life, what kind of a woman are you dreaming of?
I’m not carrying around an image of my dream girl. As you grow older, you become realistic and just wait for her to come your way. There’s so much I want us to do together.
Like what?
Well, I’m an avid traveler and there are countries I’ve always wanted to visit, like Japan and Greece. But I don’t want to explore them alone. It would be nice to have my special someone by my side.
The charm of being in Paris would be to connect with a stranger, someone I don’t know even remotely
