Happy Birthday Shahid Kapoor: 5 Underrated Performances Of Bollywood's Eternal Darkhorse

Fida, which was released in the year 2004, was a glimpse of Shahid Kapoor's calibre after he had announced himself with a Filmfare award-winning performance in Ishq Vishq.

Apart from playing a romantic in the first half of the film, Shahid as Jai Malhotra wonderfully depicted the emotional arch of the character who falls head over heels for a woman but gets conned by her in the end. The film did not work that well at the box office but definitely showed that Shahid was here to stay and there was more to him than his cute face and dance moves.

This is a movie which even the movie buffs will have a hard time remembering. The film co-starring Ajay Devgn and Bipasha Basu along with Shahid Kapoor attempted to strike the fine balance between commercial and art cinema and give the viewers a food for their thought.

However, the film fails to keep the audience engaged. That's one of the reasons it slips out of the mind but one thing which stays with you is Shahid's portrayal of Jai Vardhan, again someone who is more grey than either white or black. The movie was directed by John Matthew Matthan of Sarfarosh fame.

Several fans were reminded of Shahid Kapoor's character in Badmaash Company after the trailer of the actor's latest venture Farzi was released.

Another movie where his character Karan Kapoor isn't the most likable guy and one where he seems to come to his own as an artist. Anushka Sharma, Vir Das, and Meiyang Chang play important characters in the movie which was directed by Parmeet Sethi

It is a shame that whenever two of the finest talents of the Hindi movie industry- father and son- Pankaj Kapur and Shahid Kapoor have come together for a project, the movie has never been a success at the box office. The latest example of this was the 2022 release Jersey. The story was no different back in 2011 when Mausam was released.

In his father's directorial debut, Shahid Kapoor completely surrenders himself to the vision of the director but a slow screenplay couldn't match the expectation of a fast-paced world. The movie which co-starred Sonam Kapoor along with Shahid, was also criticised for being illogical at times but Shahid's performance struck the right chords.

Shahid Kapoor's first movie which crossed the 100-crore mark came in the 14th year of his career after several trials and errors. Not for the time in his career, the spotlight was instead on his co-actor. Ranveer Singh's Alauddin Khalji was the more talked about character rather than Shahid's measured depiction of Ratan Singh.

However, on a second watch, one realises how Ratan Singh needed a certain earnestness and dignity which was precisely what Shahid had to offer. The movie also starred Deepika Padukone and was helmed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. ( All Pics Credit: IMDb)