I even underwent BLOOD TESTS: Shahid Kapoor!

'Udta Punjab' made innumerable headlines before it's release. But, irrespective of all the hulla gulla, the audience loves the movie andespecially 'Shahid Kapoor' a.k.a. Tommy Singh has been receiving applauds for his stellar performance.

A few days ahead of the release, we got a chance to interact with Shahid and that's when he shared about the difficulties he faced to prepare for his character.

So here's what it took him to prepare for his dark yet amazing character.

Excerpts from the interview:

What was most difficult for you- playing a drug-addict or playing a rockstar?

Actually I can't really break it up like that. Definitely the most difficult thing to play was a substance addict because I have never ever had alcohol, tried any kind of drugs. That's true. I have never even had like half a bottle of beer or had any kind of substance. It just never happened. I wasn't interested in it. I never supported it. I was one of those boring guys and my friends would quite often pull my leg about it. So it was very scary to attempt a role which I have no way of understanding what it's like to be like that or to be in that state of mind. The most challenging and scary thing was whether I will make a fool of myself or I would be able to push my boundaries to try and achieve something that I actually have no exposure to.

So how did you prepare for your role?

To achieve that physicality of my character was a journey which took about three months. Basically I ate no food and trained for three hours a day. It's a very odd combination. My character Tommy Singh is a star. He needs to look good. But he is an addict so he even needs to look destroyed. So you need somebody who is good-looking but looks like he is totally messed up. To achieve that, I had to train without eating. So that happened for three months as far as body was concerned. We carefully selected fourteen tattoos for my character. The whole thing of having a long hair with streaks was because when I heard the role of Tommy Singh from Abhishek Chaubey, the character was almost jumping out and hitting me in the face. I was like what kind of a guy Tommy is! I wanted the audience to have that similar taste. It was also difficult to understand what the state of mind of an addict is. My character in the film is a cocaine addict who starts chasing the drugs. He feels he needs to be high all the time. That's what gives him confidence. So what happens to people in that space is that either they are over-confident or they are extremely under-confident when they don't get it?

Did you take any real life inferences for this film?

The difficulty with this film was that nobody is ever going to show you that 'this is what happens when I am on cocaine'. So I saw some documentaries and I think we have all partied enough to see what happens when people are high on alcohol and other stuff. (Laughs).

So was this character draining for you?

Every shot was quite draining. I used to actually go and lie down because I wasn't really eating any food and I was having a lot of coffee. I needed to be very aggressive because the character is always up. So ya it was extremely tiring. In fact after the first 12-13 days of shoot for no reason I fell ill. I had no infection. I even underwent blood tests. I had fever for 13 days while shooting because my body was just too tired.

What's Tommy Singh then all about?

'Udta Punjab' is a fictional film with fictional characters. It is not based on real life. The backdrop and issue is real. However the characters and the story are completely fictional. If you see Tommy Singh in the promos he is this huge star who is an addict. Now we have seen many people like this. There have been many pop stars having these fast lives. They die young, OD on stuff, people loves them, you know they are really cool looking, they come out and sing songs and have this really awesome shows. That's the journey of Tommy Singh. His journey is the fall of a star because the musician in him falls prey to the addict in him. And he becomes nothing. It's a journey of a guy who thinks that he is the best in the world recognizing that he isn't and then fighting that reality.

How did you work upon the emotional part of your character?

I was very dependent on Abhishek (Chaubey). Like I said before I had no exposure to these things. But then you know you have an actor's instinct. You are playing something and then you start feeling your character and then just go with the flow of your instinct.

What attracted you towards it?

Tommy Singh is bizarrely original. I found him very entertaining but very deep at the same time. That's very rare combination. Usually entertaining characters are a little shallow. On the other hand the characters that are very complex are usually a little serious. But this guy had both which was very unique as an actor for me to do.

Do you like working more in out and out commercial films like 'R..Rajkumar' or content driven films like 'Haider' and 'Udta Punjab'?

Characters excite me. I don't have a problem with genres. I am happy to do all kind of genres. But more challenging the role, greater is the excitement. The more tired I get, the more I want a break. (laughs) After 'Haider', 'Udta Punjab' and 'Rangoon' I really want to do a light fluffy film where I can just sit, chat with the heroine and then cut into a song. (Jokes).

Do you keep a tab on the box office collections of your films?

Everybody keeps a tab. Forget me, even my ManFridaytells me 'Sir, this film grossed 100 crores.'

Actors are showing a lot of maturity these days despite having baggage in the past. They are still very comfortable when it comes to working together in front of the screen, for example Ranbir- Katrina, you and Kareena...

You can choose to have a good attitude towards what's going to happen. The word 'baggage' simply means loadDrop it and fly high.

Has 'Shandaar' taken away the novelty and excitement of your pairing with Alia Bhatt?

People really liked us a lot in 'Shaandaar'. What I heard from people was that the only good thing about the film was me and Alia.

Would you ever get a tattoo in real life? Which one?

I really want a tattoo. But I haven't been still able to figure out what I want. It's a long time commitment. I just made one and I don't think I am ready for another. (laughs)

'Udta Punjab' directed by Abhishek Chaubhey released today.

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