Aditya Roy Kapur on success of The Night Manager, Portugal trip | Bollywood

Aditya Roy Kapur is basking in the success of his debut web show The Night Manager and has just returned from Portugal after a much needed break. He convincingly plays a night manager in the show which has the prime antagonist Anil Kapoorb keeping an eye on him and Sobhita Dhulipala as the female lead. The actor is now willing to feature in a love story but is also not averse to anything which allows to do something refreshing on screen. Also read: Aditya Roy Kapur, Ananya Panday are lost in conversation at a restaurant in Lisbon; fans react: ‘The eyes never lie’

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Aditya Roy Kapur talked about the challenges of filming for the Disney+ Hotstar show as well as his upcoming film with Anurag Basu. He also revealed what he missed during his Portugal trip. Excerpts:

Before The Night Manager, you were seen in Rashtra Kavach Om last year. Why is there such a vast difference between the two projects and their success rates?

That’s just the way it goes. You never know what’s going to connect, what’s not going to connect. That’s just the nature of the beast. Never know for sure what’s going to be successful. All you can do is try and do things that excite you, try and do things that you hope people would want to watch. And then eventually the outcome is in nobody’s hands. So it’s an example of…one day it’s feast, one day it’s famine.

Did you watch the original British show before doing its remake? Did you imbibe the qualities of the original characters or you tried to make it look different?

I watched it once the project came up, to kind of figure out what I felt about it. I wanted to remake something because I liked it in the first place. So for me, I think it was important that I saw.

I love the show, I love the performances. But what was nice was me, Sandeep and the writers had managed to create a unique world in the sense that they had adapted it in a great way. As an actor I had a lot of different stimuli and a lot of different stuff to draw from. He changed a few things and allowed me to find my own way into the role. Of course, the original performances were definitely something to get inspired by. I think as an actor, every time you have to do a role, you have to find your own way into it. You know you have to do that work for yourself.

Playing Shaan was an emotionally intense character for you. What is more difficult – doing action or emoting?

I think they are difficult for different reasons. Action requires a lot of energy. It requires another skill set. It is definitely difficult in its own way to to do back-to-back action, to do a lot of it. It’s physically draining and physically challenging to perform while doing action, while being tired. It’s tough in itself.

For me, this was tough in its own way because it was a very thin line as a character. Shaan Sengupta had so much going on internally that needed to reflect. Sandeep and I had to really at all times be walking a tightrope between what we want to. Because as a character, he is not revealing who he is to the people around him. But he has a lot going on inside. And it’s also how much we want to reveal to the audience, like when do we show what he’s actually thinking and when do we allow him to just continue to be the spy where you don’t know if he is this way, is he that way? Is he good? Is he bad? So it was definitely tricky and challenging, but one that I really savoured. I really enjoyed it because the writing was good. And when you have all of that written on paper, it just makes your life much easier as an actor.

There is no back story about why a navy guy became a night manager. Will there be a prequel or a sequel?

Ask the platform, ask Sreedhar. It’s a character I enjoyed playing and would love to explore. People also enjoyed watching it.

How was your experience of shooting with Anil Kapoor? You two were kept apart to bring out a hesitance among you?

Anil sir and I have already done Malang so we had worked together quite a bit. That ice had already been broken. In this case, the scenes required us to be strangers. The discomfort or hesitation would have only aided the scene. He did workshops with Anil sir and people in his orbit and me and people in my orbit separately. When we were required to collide, Sreedhar preferred for us to not rehearse.

You have also worked with two child actors in the show. How was it to work with them?

Yes I think I really enjoyed shooting with them, they are such gifted actors. They always kept us on our toes. They had done quite a lot of work so they were quite polished actors. They have done amazing work in the show. It’s always great and spontaneous and fun to work with them.

You recently shared your desire to feature in some love stories now. Are you taking a break from action films after Rashtra Kavach O?

If something very good comes my way, be it adventure, thrill or a right love story – I would love doing it. I am open, not rigid about what I want to do. Anything which I haven’t done before, I would like to do.

What should we expect from Metro…In Dino?

Dada (Anurag Basu) is doing what dada does – making something relatable, fun, quirky, touching. I am looking forward to shooting with him, I haven’t done much yet. That journey is still in front of me. It’s a sequel for Life in a…Metro. It will have multiple things happening, you can expect some romance as well.

How was your Portugal trip?

I definitely needed a break. I missed the monsoons though, I love monsoons in Mumbai. Since the moment I came back, it has been raining non-stop for one week.

You made headlines here.

It’s a good thing I am not so much on social media. But definitely, I have heard…