Shahid Kapoor's latest film Kabir Singh has become a defining moment in his Bollywood career. Not only is it his highest-grossing film as it's raked in more than Rs 260 crore, it has also become a strong talking point among critics ever since its release. The film has been slammed by critics for its violent and misogynistic approach towards women.

Opening up about this to Hindustan Times, Shahid revealed that there was a certain thrill in playing a character who is completely different from his real personality. "In real life, I could never be like Kabir Singh in any possible way. The challenge therefore was to find those grey strands in the personality, take a magnifying glass to enlarge them and bring them to life on screen. Those elements were also in the original Telugu film, Arjun Reddy, and that’s why I insisted that the same director be retained for the Hindi remake."

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Your love is so overwhelming words will always fall short. Thank you for understanding him forgiving him and loving him with all your heart. We all fall apart. And we all must strive to rise from our faults. To be better. To be wiser. To be kinder. He is flawed. So are we all. You didn’t judge him you experienced him. You understood him. I have never ever felt so thankful. The most flawed character I have ever played. Has become my most loved. Indeed indian cinema and the audience has come a long way. More power to brave choices. More power to you all for your maturity and humanness. You have given me wings to fly. To not only be burdened by the need to be loved to be a star but to have the courage to be hated in equal measure to be an actor. Here’s to cinema mirroring life. To protagonists who don’t have to be restricted by their goodness and can be human and imperfect. There is perfection in imperfection and that is the beauty and the challenge of this human life. Thank you. Again and again. You all are the heroes of this story.

A post shared by Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) on Jul 4, 2019 at 1:47am PDT

Shahid said that he has never been afraid of playing characters that would be disliked. "My drug addict character of Tommy Singh in Udta Punjab was also quite deplorable. I feel that people should walk out of the hall loving a performance, not the character. One needs to, therefore, make bold choices," he said, adding, "For a star who is otherwise liked and loved, it’s a big thing if people watch a character on screen and wonder what the hell he is doing. It’s a huge compliment for me if people disliked Kabir Singh. To be able to lead people into a willing suspension of belief is the biggest victory for a film."

Kabir Singh, which features Kiara Advani, is a remake of the Telugu blockbuster Arjun Reddy. It tells the story of a hot-headed surgeon who goes on a downward spiral after his lover leaves him and marries someone else.