Shahid Kapoor, in the midst of the promotion of his new film Kismat Konnection, is sporting a new look. His hair is longer with brown highlights, layered if you will and different from the earlier short crop and he’s certainly begun to look closer to his age - 27, than he’s perhaps done before.

For actors, that’s usually bad news, but for Shahid who for the longest time struggled to act off a baby face, it’s more of a good thing. Consider the movies in his kitty-Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kameenay opposite Priyanka Chopra, a Yash Raj film opposite Rani Mukerji, an untitled film with Ken Ghosh (his first director) and a film to be directed by his father Pankaj Kapur. He’s already been in the industry for close to six years, worked in about 15 films and established himself as a capable actor who can carry solo hero movies (Vivah and Jab We Met being recent examples) to success. That’s a lot of acting considering that there are newcomers, particularly male in the age group 25 + who have just started out the last two or three years. So he has that valuable thing called experience some good and some bad on his CV. And he wears it well.

One hasn’t yet started reading reports about his remuneration or the lucrative offers being made to him. To my enquiry about starry price tags in general and his in particular, he says, “You charge a price that your film can recover. At 27, to make money the main criteria would be foolish. Above everything else, I would like to be part of a good film.” In this phase, by his own admission, he knows himself a lot better as an actor as also the people he wants to work with.

And so it was with Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met, a love story that surprised everyone with its success.

His next film Kismat Konnection is yet another love story, so is he anxious about the high expectations? He sounds confident when he says he has a good feeling about the movie which opens this weekend. Sitting across and talking to him drives home a few things-he’s very reserved. Painfully so. He is polite to a fault but almost testy — that when it comes to unwarranted attention.

He is polite to a fault but almost testy — that when it comes to unwarranted attention. He spots a hotel waiter snapping him with his mobile camera and politely yet firmly requests him to stop. It could be all the media attention that’s accompanied his break-up with Kareena Kapoor, but he’s fine with publicity to the extent that it’s an essential part of promoting movies.

“I am an extremely private person,” he reasons. Privacy, he admits is the first casualty when you are a star but it’s something he is fastidious about. As for his movie roster, there’s plenty to be excited about starting with Kameenay .

For actors, doing a Vishal Bhardwaj film usually marks a departure, a breaking away of sorts from their established image so will it be a similar story with Shahid with Kameenay? The actor is forthcoming, “I have a base now. I have had three solo hero hits and yes, I am in a good space wherein my love stories are doing well. It will be a bit of a mix and match. Vishal’s movies have a perspective of their own and to that extent it will be different.” Speaking of directors with a perspective, those he admires besides Vishal Bhardwaj are Rajkumar Hirani, Shimit Amin, Ashutosh Gowariker, Imtiaz Ali and Aamir Khan.

Back in the family, it’s father Pankaj Kapur with whom he talks movies. “Even a half-hour chat with him would equal a lesson in an acting school.” Does the arrival of two new actors -Ranbir Kapoor last year and now Imran Khan-who have been identified as chocolate heroes worry him? “Well, not really. People coming into the industry are not new. Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh Khan were all part of the industry at about the same time and they all worked in love stories, so there’s space for everyone. Each actor has to build their own individual rapport with their audience.”