Marriage is far away, not even thought about it: Arjun Kapoor

He is 30 years old, and nowhere close to getting married. But Arjun Kapoor’s progressive house husband avatar in director R Balki’s next might just surprise his fans. At least, that’s what we gathered when we caught up with the actor last week at a suburban studio.

Ask him if he is considering tying the knot in real life too, and he says, “Abhi toh chhokra jawaan hua hai (I have just come of age). How can I think about marriage right now? Let me concentrate on my work, and, maybe, get into a relationship first. Marriage is far away. I haven’t even thought about it.”

However, the actor admits that when he recently received marriage proposals from his female fans, he “felt nice”. “It is a very unique thing. But I am not complaining. I never imagined it, because [as an actor] you play a lot of characters, which are liked by people. But to get such a reaction before a film releases only goes to show that women, today, prefer a husband who can share [household] duties,” he says.

Priyanka Chopra and Arjun Kapoor at the Delhi's Most Stylish Awards. (Waseem Gashroo/HT)

His co-star, Kareena Kapoor Khan, has many young admirers in Bollywood, including Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. But Arjun says that “there is no bigger Kareena fan” than him.

“To a large extent, when we were teenagers, she was at the top of her game, and continues to be. She looks beautiful as well as hot. Plus she is a great actor too. And she still has those qualities. I’m happy that I am getting to work with her in the right film and with the right director,” says the actor.

Arjun has tasted success in the past, with rom-coms like 2 States (2014) and Finding Fanny (2014). But about his next, he says that “it is not the kind of rom-com people are expecting it to be.” As far as working with Balki is concerned, he adds, “He is the most experienced director I have worked with to date. He treats me like an equal, yet nurtures me like a child. After spending time with him, I feel that I have already learnt a lot.”

Interestingly, a day before we met Arjun, he shot continuously for over 20 hours. “Yes, we did one entire section of the film — the kitchen sequence — in about 21 hours, and it was great fun. We had created an actual, fully-equipped kitchen for this, and we cooked all day,” he says, adding that he learnt cooking for about 10 days.