Bollywood actors Shahid Kapoor and Mrunal Thakur were in Delhi to promote their upcoming film ‘Jersey’ in Delhi. The actors shared an insight on their roles, their experiences of shooting in Chandigarh and debunked the rumours surrounding the film.
The first time actor Shahid Kapoor saw Jersey’s Telegu version, he fell in love with the film to the extent that he wanted the North Indian audiences to watch it. Calling its story 'the hero of the film', Shahid said, “Audience will see themselves in the roles that we have shown on screen.”
Rumour had it that the film is based on Raman Lamba’s life. The Jab We Met actor refuted the claims. He said, “Jersey is a fictional film. It has nothing to do with the late cricketer’s story. It is a very emotional film that revolves around a married couple ‘Arjun and Vidya’ and their son ‘Kittu’.”
In the film, Shahid portrays the role of a cricketer and a father whose son pushes him to achieve his dreams. Mrunal plays the character of ‘Vidya’, a Telugu girl who loves her husband. Jersey is a Hindi remake of the 2019 Telugu movie of the same name. The movie is based on a failed 36-year-old cricketer who returns back to the game for the sake of his child.
Shahid pointed out that playing Arjun wasn’t easy. He had to work a lot on his skills.
“Arjun is like those people who does not show his emotions easily. So I had to feel really strongly about him. Since I play a cricketer, I practiced cricket for eight months — five months before the pandemic and three months after the COVID-19 wave was over,” he said.
Despite being born in a Punjabi, speaking Punjabi was not a cakewalk for Shahid. He worked a lot on his speaking skills.
“I had to work a lot so that my tone and dialect to make it look natural. My dad (Pankaj Kapur) is well-versed in Punjabi. I observed him a lot on the set. I often asked people on the set to speak to him in Punjabi so that I could work on my pronunciation skills,” he clarifies.
Mrunal also spoke about her on-screen role and her learnings from the film. She said, “I loved Vidya as she is a practical girl. She has strong family values and refuses to compromise with the situation. She takes care of the family, despite all odds. My biggest learning from the film was that it’s important for us to live life king sized instead of having longevity.”
Despite being a remake, several changes have been made to the remake. Shahid explains that this was done to allow audiences to enjoy the film and build a better connect.
“The world that we have created in this film is completely different from the one that you will see in the Telugu version. The film is based in Chandigarh in the 1990,” he clarifies.
Jersey also stars Pankaj Kapoor. After a long wait of more than three months, the Gowtam Tinnanuri’s directed film will release on April 14 in cinemas.