7 Shahid Kapoor characters who gave us lessons to remember for life!

Shahid Kapoor’s characters aren’t just a huge part of pop culture, they’re unknowingly life coaches too. Here’s why!

Shahid Kapoor is one of those powerhouses of talent who still manages to stay relevant and on the top of his game, two decades since his debut. Growing up in the early 2000s myself, his movies were a huge part of my Bollywood ‘moviefication’. There wasn’t a single girl in school who didn’t have a crush on him! He went from playing the absolute green flag in Sooraj Barjatya’s Vivah to an absolute red flag in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Kabir Singh. But what remained constant was the fact that his characters always taught us something.

They stirred conversations that were polarizing the audiences on two completely different sides. It’s simply because he chose to do characters that highlighted the grays within human beings. There’s such diversity in his body of work that no two characters would ever be similar. He isn’t shy of experimenting with his craft and he certainly isn’t shy about what the world might think of him in the course of doing that. He acts because he enjoys performing and that has translated on-screen a plethora of times! 

Also Read: 8 characters played by Shahid Kapoor who have us yearning for his lover boy era!

Here’s everything that some of his iconic characters made us realize!

Aditya Kashyap - to let loose and live a little sometimes

Aditya was in a really bad space when he met Geet. His girlfriend got married to someone else, his company was not doing well and all of this had taken a toll on his mental health. As he crossed paths with Geet, he was reminded that life isn’t that serious after all! While it’s important to focus on work, it’s not okay to make it your whole life either. I resonate with Aditya now more than ever as I succumb to my work life as well. He acts as a reminder to take a break and let out the inner child in you!

Kabir Singh - how important it is to take care of your mental health

Kabir was a deeply flawed character and it was clear since the first frame itself that he had unprocessed trauma. He channelled that rather negatively on people, especially his partner and did some really messed up things along the way. He is a walking talking reminder of what happens when we neglect our mental health and how important it is to seek help when it is required.

Prem - love someone for who they are and not what they look like

Vivah is probably one of the classic rom-coms we’ll still enjoy and the purity of it all will still reflect on-screen. Prem is in an arranged marriage situation with Poonam and they fall in love as they get to know each other. While Poonam looked stunning no matter what time of the day it was, it wasn’t her outer appearance that he fell in love with but who she was as a person! Even after the fatal incident that she goes through, he loves her just the same without any second thoughts!

Arjun Talwar - it’s never too late to start over

Arjun failed to succeed as a cricketer and gave up on his dreams pretty early on. As heartbreaking as that was for him, he continued to provide for his family through other means of income until his son motivated him to get back on the field. So, in his thirties, Arjun re-ignites his dream of becoming a cricketer and gives it his all this time around. The character leaves an impact on anyone and everyone who has a dream they’re too scared to follow. Arjun teaches us that it’s never too late to turn your life around!

Tommy Singh - everyone should get a chance to redeem their mistakes!

Tommy is a troubled rockstar ensnared in the dark underbelly of Punjab’s drug addiction. Kapoor portrays a complex character who descends into addiction and then redeems himself by making an effort to go clean and start a new life. Tommy is one of the craziest characters to exist in Hindi cinema and the biggest takeaway from him is that he not only takes control of his life when it's needed but makes an effort to bring it back on track too. He taught us that realizing your mistake and redeeming yourself is one of the bravest things one can do for themselves.

Adi - you get one chance at life, live it to the fullest!

Call it cringe all you want, but I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who loved Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! as a kid. Adi gets a chance to right his wrongs even in the after life and helps his family through some really tough times. In the course of this, he realizes how he never prioritized what was truly important for him when he was alive. While Adi gets a second chance at life, most of us aren’t going to and hence the character encourages us to live our lives to the fullest!

Haider Meer - be ready for disappointment at any given point in life

Life definitely isn’t a garden of roses as we’d like it to be and who better than Haider to teach us that! When he comes back to his homeland Kashmir, in the search of his father, he finds out his mother is now married to his uncle. As he digs deeper he doubts that his uncle might be involved in the disappearance of his father after all! There was enough and more disappointment for him to go cuckoo in the film but he left us thinking that not everyone around us has the best of intentions for us and the only one who is going to have your back is, in fact, you!

Happy birthday to the actor who taught us so many life lessons through his characters!

For more entertainment, follow us on @socialketchupbinge.