'I did very little work'

After a decade in Bollywood, Shahid Kapoor is happy with his career, but regrets not doing enough films.

The 32-year-old actor made his debut in 2003 with college drama Ishq Vishk and has so far starred in just 20 films.

Shahid now feels he should have presented himself more often on the big screen, which in turn would have catapulted him to greater success.

“The one mistake that I made was I did very little work. I think that is not good. As an actor you need to go out there, show yourself to the audience twice or thrice a year, at least at this stage of my career. I am not 45. I am not at that stage where people have seen 20 years of my work. So I feel it is important to keep coming in front of the audience. There will be times they will like you, there will be times they will not like the film. I have learnt over 10 years that films will come and go, but people must like you. Your performances must be consistent," Shahid says.

His career so far has been defined by a collection of soaring highs and dispiriting lows. Shahid tasted success with his debut movie but could not follow it up with his next films until Vivah in 2006. His other successful outings have been Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met in 2007 and Vishal Bhardwaj’s 2009 film Kaminey, which is arguably Shahid’s best performance till date.
 “I have seen some very successful and unsuccessful periods. But I think it is most important to recognise that you need to work with the right people. You have to keep working without changing who you are and how you are,” Shahid adds.