Shahid Kapoor reveals being bullied, treated badly in school; says he responded with, ‘tu jaanta nahi main kaun hun’

Actor Shahid Kapoor has opened up about being bullied during his school days in Mumbai. In a new interview, the actor said that his schooling in Delhi was amazing. Recalling his comebacks when bullied, Shahid said that he didn’t ‘step down or step back’. In contrast to his schooling in Mumbai, his college life was ‘really nice’ as he had a ‘lot of fun’. The actor studied at Mumbai’s Mithibai College. (Also Read | Jersey movie review: Shahid Kapoor hits a century in a film that’s just too long)

Shahid, son of actors Pankaj Kapur and Neelima Azeem, studied in New Delhi’s Gyan Bharati School. He then shifted to Mumbai at the age of 10. Shahid continued his further studies in Rajhans Vidyalaya. Pankaj and Neelima parted ways when he was three years old.

In an interview with Curly Tales, Shahid said, “I hated my school in Bombay, I was bullied and treated very badly. The teachers were also not very nice to me. Sorry but that is true. I loved my school in Delhi because I was there from Jr KG and I had a lot of friends. So, I’ve amazing memories in Delhi and not very pleasant memories of schooling in Bombay. My college in Bombay was really nice, had a lot of fun, I was in Mithibai College, but schooling was not so nice.”

When asked about the difference between children in Mumbai and Delhi, he said, “There’s no difference. I feel when children join school, when a new kid comes in the middle and all the other kids are there from a younger age, he kind of becomes an outsider. And since I was from Delhi, I was ‘dilli ka ladka’, I was not one to step down or step back so whenever I’d be told ‘Tu hat ja (Go away)’ I’d be like ‘Tu kya samajhta hai? Main kyun hatu (What do you think? Why should I go)?’… ‘Tu jaanta nahi main kaun hun (You don’t know who am I)’, it was more like that.” He said that he was ‘very popular’ in college but ‘very shy’.

Shahid also recalled budgeting in college. He said that on days when he would have ₹20 and felt like having vada pav (a snack) and cold drinks, he would travel by bus. On days when he was tired, he’d travel by rickshaw and didn’t get to ‘eat anything nice’. He added that he had to always ‘flip and choose’.

Shahid was recently seen in filmmaker Gowtam Tinnanauri’s Jersey. A remake of the 2019 Telugu movie of the same name, it chronicles the story of a talented but failed cricketer, who decides to return to the field in his late 30s driven by the desire to represent the Indian cricket team and fulfil his son’s wish for a jersey as a gift.

The Hindi adaptation also features actor Pankaj Kapur and Mrunal Thakur. Jersey is being presented by Allu Aravind, produced by Aman Gill, Dil Raju and S Naga Vamsi.