If there’s one actor in Bollywood who forever gives out the ‘I don’t care a damn’ vibe, it would be Arjun Kapoor. Seemingly unruffled by the cut-throat competition in the industry, Kapoor mostly focusses his creative energy on doing one film at a time. His career choices, says the 32-year-old, have not impacted his friendship with other actors of his generation.

“My friendships have just not been affected. [Competition] is perception based. From the outside, you view it as competition. But, the way I look at it is as one set of people doing the same work, within a community.” he says.

His often-written about ‘bromance’ with his baba (as the two refer to each other), fellow actor Ranveer Singh, comes up in the conversation. But, is it really easy being friends even while being contemporaries in the film industry? “It isn’t difficult to stay friends if your friendships are honest, and go beyond your work,” he says. “Some friendships happen when you are working on a film together, and then you move on in life. You meet again at some point, say ‘Hey, how are you?’ and then again move on, so no one is constantly in touch.

“I have known someone like Ranveer for years. Our friendship is beyond him and me being actors. Our journeys have been parallel, we started out in the film industry at the same time. But not only Ranveer— Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Adi (Aditya Roy Kapur) — all my contemporaries are people I get along with. We bond over football, movies and cars. It’s a positive change to see our bunch co-exist in a good space. It also makes for great photos when we are hanging out together!” laughs Arjun, adding that it’s not healthy to dwell on competition all the time. “Mujhe kabhi farak nahi padhta. (I am not bothered). You can’t be competing all the time. This profession is such, you need to give it its time. There’s more to life than iska kya ho raha hai, uska kya ho raha hai (what’s happening to the other).”

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