And was he tough in his school days? Was he as bad as Charlie was in the film? I ask him. I was a bit of Charlie, the bad guy and Guddu, the good guy. When I was in Delhi I was Charlie. It was home ground for me. I was born there. I had been in the same school and was the big boss. The school was next to my locality in my area where I lived. When I came to Mumbai, I became a bit like Guddu because I was an outcast. I had a different accent. I came here when I was in fifth standard and didnt know how to relate with people. Even they didnt care to know anything about me. My school had just turned into a co-ed and there were three girls amongst twenty five of us. The boys would obviously pay more attention to the chics than me. I had a tough time in school in Mumbai. It was another new comer like me called Haider with whom I became good friends and bonded well. So it was a mixed bag for me in school. <BR><BR><br><p class=clear>&nbsp;</p>Thanks to directors like Vishal Bhardwaj, Ram Gopal Varma, Shimit Amin and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, that we find actors like Saif Ali Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and <br><p class=clear>&nbsp;</p>Abhishek Bachchan give out their most memorable performances. Something which the audiences havent seen before, and characters they identify with. Shahid is the latest to join the bandwagon. Whats good for him is also the fact that his father Pankaj Kapur has also worked with Vishal Bhardwaj. Does that mean more inputs from both sides for Shahid? Me and dad never really discussed how it would be to work with Vishal. I had seen Vishals films and I had the exposure to his kind of cinema and was aware of the commitment he gave for his films. There was also a thought of, whether he would be making a commercial film for the whole world to see. With Kaminey he has flipped the coin. The song Dhan Te Nan proves it. Yes, there was a Bidi Jalaile from Omkara but the former is going places. The fact that both my characters in the film have speech defects also comes from the fact that Vishal wanted the film to appeal or entertain the audiences. The whole lisping thing and stammering was convincingly done to make it look commercial. Vishal makes you see yourself like youve not seen yourself. For any actor, thats a bonus because it opens up the space for you. If I can pull off Kaminey, then people will say, if this guy who did Jab We Met can pull off a Kaminey, I dont want to restrict myself in seeing him on screen in a particular role. We will go and watch Shahid Kapur films and not the romantic films of Shahid Kapur. </span>