Shahid Kapoor

While Shahid Kapoor gifts himself guitar lessons for his 29th birthday this week, Rana Daggubati learns to play the instrument for his role in Dum Maro Dum

Suddenly, learning to play the guitar has become fashionable in the Hindi film industry. It first started with Saif Ali Khan who, of course, is a professional performer.

While Ranbir Kapoor will be strumming a guitar in Imtiaz Ali’s Rock Star, this week Shahid Kapoor has begun to learn to play the instrument to coincide with his birthday on Thursday. For Shahid it is a new skill for a new year in his life and he is making sure he makes good use of his free time before he gets busy with the pre-production for his father Pankaj Kapur’s film Mausam.

Shahid says he is not learning the guitar as preparation for any role. “I always wanted to learn the guitar. I just started learning from my brother Ishaan, who started learning a month before me. I’m desperately trying to catch up,” he says.

The only thing Shahid is passionate about at the moment is his guitar. He clearly is not in a relationship, at least not at the moment. “ Honestly, when I’m sure that a relationship is for keeps I’ll come out with it. Until then please let me be. I’m not really a Casanova. People just assume things about my private life because I don’t issue clarifications.”

So are his constant messages to Priyanka Chopra on a social networking service a mere case of friendliness? “Yaar, there are so many men and women I tweet and SMS to on a daily basis. Isn’t that normal? Just because I tweet to an actress, the context is twisted. So I’ve stopped tweeting to her. Just because I say, ‘Hi, long time must catch up’ to a female twitterer doesn’t mean anything. I could come home and tell my dog, ‘Hey dude, I missed you.’ Doesn’t mean anything.” No offense, Priyanka.

Coming back to guitars, South actor Rana Daggubati too is learning to play the guitar for his role as a Goan rock musician in Rohan Sippy’s Dum Maro Dum. Rana says, “Though I initially started learning the guitar for Rohan’s film, I’ve fallen in love with the instrument and it will remain a part of my life.”

Rana is in a celebratory mood. “I could’ve made my acting debut with a standard love story but I chose a political drama. I’m very happy that it worked. I always wanted to be an actor but I wasn’t sure which genre to make my debut with. When my director Shekar Kammula came up with Leader I was game. I am fortunate that I got a chance to do a Telugu and a Hindi film outside my home banner but my home banner, Suresh Productions, is certainly my responsibility. I am a trained cinematographer. I’ve shot a lot of ads in Hyderabad and Chennai.”

Incidentally, Rana speaks fluent Hindi. “We all speak Hindi at home.”

Rana now intends to buy a home in Mumbai. “Buying property in Mumbai is quite different from Hyderabad. In Hyderabad you can buy a bungalow for the price of a flat in Mumbai.”

“I couldn’t have hoped for a better launch. In Leader I had Suhasini Mani Ratnam playing my mother and in Dum Maro Dum I’ve Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha and Pratik (Babbar) as co-stars. I’ve interacted a lot with Pratik and he definitely has a lot of potential. As for Rohan Sippy, he’s an interesting filmmaker,” adds the newcomer.

Commenting on his relationship status, Rana says, “Neither married nor do I have a girlfriend. I haven’t found anyone I want to be with in Hyderabad. I hope I find someone in Mumbai.”