Not Your Average Joe

Harshvardhan kapoor is 25, and he wants you to know that he’s not like everybody else (other than dying to be on tinder, loving deadpool and wanting to marry scarlett johansson).

- Arnesh Ghose

HARSHVARDHAN KAPOOR Has invited me over to his place in juhu, mumbai’s movie star suburb. I show up a few minutes early and decide to take a stroll down the shaded lanes, lined with palatial bungalows, radiating money and power. What must it be like to grow up in a space like this, with a rich, influential father who has made sure, in his own career span, that his next few generations are going to have it easy? Would this new kapoor kid turn out to be an entitled arse, or am i in for a surprise? I’m guided into an ostentatious study, every surface done up in polished wood. A bookcase, lined to the ceiling in fat leather-bound volumes, immediately grabs my attention. When kapoor walks in – an hour late, just like any debutant should – i point at the bookcase and ask him if he has read any of them. “they are artificial. That is just a front for a lot of liquor,” he says. Well, at least he is honest.

Do you like mirrors?

It depends on the situation. Actually, I think I have outgrown the need to see myself often. On sets, I am really irritated. Once all the make-up is done, I don’t really have the urge to look into a mirror because there are so many other things to concentrate on. And, honestly, that should be the last thing on your mind. A bunch of people, who are very good at their job, have been hired to do precisely that. Not to make sure that you look good, but that you look good enough for the character. But again, if I were stepping out for a press event, then I would look in the mirror a lot more.