Shahid Kapoor: I was quite thrown off by the sudden stardom post Ishq Vishk | Exclusive

Shahid Kapoor debuted with the 2003 film Ishq Vishk

Shahid Kapoor made his Bollywood debut with the college romance film Ishq Vishk 20 years ago. The film was a huge hit, turning the newbie cast members into stars overnight. During our print and podcast series Sit With Hitlist, Shahid revisited the time when he felt his life change in a day. The instant response they got after the first day first show was overwhelming.

"I remember when this film was coming out, we were just a bunch of newcomers and Ken Ghosh had directed it, and we were driving and we went to Town, we were at Sterling - I think that is where the film was playing - and we were waiting outside. It was a morning show, 12 o' clock was the first show that we got and we were waiting outside nervously. We were actually very excited to see ourselves on the big screen. We were more excited about that, rather than becoming a star," he told Mid-day's Mayank Shekhar.

"We snuck in a little bit, we saw we were getting good reactions, people were laughing and reacting, nobody was disinterested. They came out and suddenly the whole thing changed. They had to barricade the area, because people were trying to mob and crowd around. I was 23... I think today's 23 year olds are very different from us 20 years back. I think we were a lot less exposed. I thought, I am the same guy, the same people met me so normally 2.5 hours back, and suddenly I am this big deal and apparently it's a big deal to meet me.

"So, I thought, I guess that's what stardom is. It just started like that. And it took some time for me to absorb it. I think I got quite thrown off by it. Maybe I was very young and I wasn't ready for it. I was still not sure of myself, so I was like okay what am I supposed to do with the situation now where am I supposed to go, how is this supposed to work," he added.

Watch the full interview here: