Shahid Kapoor was initially skeptical about signing another remake after the success of Kabir Singh but the actor couldn’t say no to Jersey’s Hindi remake because it genuinely “touched” his heart.
Jersey is a Telugu-language sports drama, which stars Nani as Arjun, a late bloomer in cricket, who decides to return to the field in his late 30s driven by the desire to represent the Indian cricket team and fulfil his son’s wish for a jersey. Gowtham Tinnanuri, who helmed the original film, is directing the Hindi remake as well.
Shahid said, “I wanted to do an original film so that people don’t think I’m doing only remakes. But when I saw the film, it touched my heart. I cried four times while watching it. The character isn’t like Kabir Singh. He’s a quiet, introvert man but his intensity and journey was inspiring for me.”
“I related a lot with the story because I would also wonder if I should try something else because no film of mine was going blockbuster. There comes a time in everyone’s life when you feel ‘why is it not happening to me? Have I done something wrong?’”
The actor, who was interacting to the media on the sidelines of the Star Screen Awards, further said that he eventually realised one should always continue doing what is close to heart “irrespective of success or failure.”
“After Kabir Singh, it feels like ‘What will be the right film? What will be the expectations of the audience? If I can match those expectations because people have loved it so much. I’ve never got so much love before. So when I watched Jersey, I felt I should take this story to people because even I have been through weak moments when I didn’t know what to do. But this is the only thing I’ve ever known. I love acting and I love movies,” he added.
Shahid’s Kabir Singh is also a remake of a Telugu film, titled Arjun Reddy. The Hindi remake turned out to be the highest-grossing film in his entire 16-year-long career. In the film, Shahid plays Kabir, an aggressive surgeon who struggles to come to terms with separation from his girlfriend Preeti.
Kabir Singh has amassed a lifetime collection of Rs 276.34 crore and become the second-highest grosser of 2019 after Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff’s War.