Exclusive! Interview with Kartik Aaryan: My dream is to become the best actor in this industry.

From being an actor known for acing the rom-com genre, Kartik Aaryan has come a long way. His portrayal of Arjun Pathak in the recently released Dhamaka shows him in a different light as an actor and brings out a shade of his talent that we’ve never seen before. On his birthday today, Kartik talks about becoming wiser as an actor with every passing day. He calls himself a ‘fan-made actor’ and says that the appreciation from viewers for Dhamaka has boosted his confidence to take up more challenging roles in the future. Excerpts from the chat…

Your latest film Dhamaka is being touted as your career’s best performance so far. What is the feedback you’ve got from your fans and members of the film fraternity that has touched you the most?

For the longest time, I was looking to do something different from what I had done before. I am glad that everyone is so surprised and happy seeing my performance in Dhamaka. The one comment on social media that caught my attention is — ‘Where was this Kartik Aaryan, the actor?’ I am also excited with the way members of the film fraternity reacted to my performance after I met them at the film’s screening. They saw a different shade of me and were pleasantly surprised as it surpassed their imagination. All this while, I was seen as a commercial star, now they are happy to see me as a commercial-actor star. With romance or comedy films, sometimes the audience misses taking notice of little nuances in a performance. Thankfully, with films of certain genres like Dhamaka, people take notice of these.

With this film you got to showcase your range as an actor. Do you think it will help you further cement your position in the industry?
My dream is to be the number one actor in this industry. This film gave me that opportunity. I can see that the fraternity has taken notice of me as an actor. I’m certain Dhamaka will give me an opportunity to work with filmmakers that I always aspired to team up with and a chance to showcase my talent. Steadily, the options are opening up.

When the film was being made did you anticipate that it would be received so well by the audience?

Yes, I was pretty sure. It was for the first time that I was collaborating with an ace filmmaker like Ram Madhvani sir. I have loved his work and craft. Well, the jodi worked! With this project, I knew what the content was and what we were getting into. What also helped was the backing of maverick producers like Ronnie Screwvala and Amita Madhvani. I felt like I was in safe hands and confident about the final outcome. I was expecting a lot of love to come my way and that is what is happening right now. It is truly an edge-of-the-seat thriller, which I also felt while reading the script. The entire film unfolds in one room, yet, it has that scale and the commercial value. The characters are quite relatable and the climax of the film is beautiful. I went ahead with my gut feeling and I am happy to see the love that people are showering on the film. The only thing I was nervous about was the fact that I was shifting to another genre with this project. I was playing a very grey character. I was wondering how my fans would react, but today I am happy with the outcome.

On your birthday today, tell us about the most dhamakedaar birthday you’ve ever had…

It is definitely this birthday! I want to thank everyone for showing so much love to Dhamaka. This is really my biggest birthday present ever. I have always said that I am a fan-made hero. I took this leap of faith and did the film, and I am glad that my fans supported me. I am grateful to them. With this, I am confident to push my boundaries as an actor.

So, could we say this is Kartik Aaryan 2.0? What can we expect from your upcoming films?

Arjun Pathak was quite a challenging role and you will definitely see me taking on more such challenging roles in the future. With my forthcoming films, I will be venturing into playing characters that are very different and far from what I have done before. You will see me in different avatars in movies like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Freddy, Shehzada and Captain India. It was a conscious decision by me to line up films that will be different from each other. Having said that, I won’t let go of my territory, which is rom-com. I will, of course, continue doing that, too.

You’ve come a long way — today you have filmmakers approaching you with varied content, you are winning immense appreciation from critics and the audience, and fans are joining you in celebrating the success of your films. How does it all feel?

(Laughs!) I know right? My fans celebrated and remembered me on Kartik Purnima. It feels good when fans shower so much love on you. It has been a great journey. I am proud of my struggles and where I have come from. I am proud of my highs and lows, my success and failures. I have learnt a lot from it all and because of the failures I have seen, I value this position where I am today a lot more. I don’t want to lose it and so, I will keep on working hard. I will keep entertaining my audience and hopefully, I will keep doing more and more challenging films in the future. With my first film Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), I got a loyal fan base, and from then to Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (2018), it grew by many folds. When my chips were down, my fans believed in me and boosted my morale to go ahead and prove myself. Sometimes, I feel I am privileged to get so much love. There was a time where I was trying to get into the industry, then there was a time where I wanted to get my second or third film, and then there was a time when I wanted people to know my name… as they would refer to me as the monologue actor (from Pyaar ka Punchnama). It was only after Sonu Ke… that people registered my name. I am finally in a space where I am getting the opportunities to explore myself as an actor and play challenging characters. It definitely feels that I have arrived now.