Mumbai: He has been talked about more for his relationships with the hottest girls in town than his works. But Shahid Kapoor prefers to talk about his ‘singledom’. “I think I am single and quite ready to mingle. That’s about it,” he says.

Though stardom has given the actor the much needed spotlight and quite a fan following among girls, he does think that there are certain things he misses in his life, terribly that is. “I miss just taking a walk or playing cricket on the road. I also miss having panipuri at public places. But I don’t complain,” he adds.

Though doing an ad for a fairness cream has invited criticism from many quarters, he has his own stance on it. “The ad is about how men should take care of their persona and groom themselves. And Indian men have this perception that they should never groom themselves since they are men,” he says.

He has been very protective about his younger brother Ishaan. Does he want him to follow in his footsteps? “I don’t want to talk about him as it’s not apt for him to see things being written about him or his pictures in newspapers. He should grow up like a normal boy,”

Since the time he has made his debut in Hindi films, there have been countless occasions when it has been said that he looks very young and doesn’t fit in many characters. How does he take such comments? “It’s all to do with success and failures. Look at Zac Effron abroad he is such a big star and he is merely 22. It’s all about doing your work diligently and with passion,” Shahid says.

From his lover boy image, he went through a sea change as an actor with Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey. What does he plan to do next? “I want to do a fun film next. Be it Kaminey or Paathshala, I have done serious stuff of late. I want to do a young film now,” he replies.

What about Mausam, his father Pankaj Kapur’s directorial debut? “I am very excited since I will be working with my father at the helm of affairs,” he ends.

Bollywood’s latest heartthrob Shahid Kapoor turns 29 today. The hunk who was most recently seen in flicks like Chance Pe Dance and Kaminey has left no stone unturned to make his mark in Bollywood.

Shahid began his career by working in music videos and advertisements. He made his Bollywood debut as a dancer in Subhash Ghai’s Taal (1999).

Four years later, he made his debut as a lead in Ishq Vishk (2003) and won a Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for his performance. Shahid impressed the audience with his performance in films like Fida (2004) and Shikhar (2005). He tasted commercial success with Sooraj R. Barjatya’s Vivah (2006), and followed it up with Jab We Met (2007) and Kaminey (2009).

Bollywood’s most talked about vegan has managed to grab eyeballs not just for his performance on the silver screen but also his link-ups with many B-town leading ladies. After his break up with Kareena, Shahid has managed to prove himself as the most wanted hunk in Bollywood. From Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma and most recently Deepika Padukone, it seems Shahid can’t have enough of our desi girls.

As the dashing Kapoor turns a year older, we wish him many more box-office hits and more reasons to make women drool over him in years to come.

It hasn’t even been a month to the New Year, and Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor has already swept three awards for his performances in 2009.

While he was named the most popular male actor at the STAR Screen awards, Shahid also won the heartthrob of the nation award at the fifth Apsara Film and Television Producers Guild Awards.

The 28-year-old also walked away with the Editor’s choice Best Actor award at the Stardust awards for his portrayal of Guddu and Charlie – the ruffian with the endearing lisp and the simpleton who stammers respectively – in Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey.

Last year saw Shahid’s transformation from a chocolate hero to an intense actor.

Though his latest release Chance Pe Dance hasn’t been able to pull in a lot of audiences, Shahid is looking forward to good times this year. He will be seen in Parmeet Sethi’s untitled movie for Yash Raj Films apart from his father, veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor’s Masoom.

Now it can be told. Shahid Kapoor has adopted his father, the illustrious Pankaj Kapoor’s mode of acting to play the double role of Guddu and Charlie in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey.

Pankaj, it must be remembered, played a double role in Anubhav Sinha’s Dus. When Vishal who has directed Pankaj in The Blue Umbrella and the short-film on AIDS Blood Brothers, invited Shahid to play the morally- incompatible twins, Shahid apparently studied the way his father played the part.

Amole Gupte who is Shahid’s co-actor in Kaminey says he has never witnessed such diligence. “When Shahid played Guddu he had to assume Guddu’s stammer. He completely internalized all of the character’s traits, including the stammer so that there’s nothing caricatural about the character.”

On the sets Shahid never withdrew into his vanity van. “He stayed on the set throughout, kept absorbing the ambience, the sweaty milieu in which Guddu and Charlie had to function in their own separate ways.

I know Pankaj works the same way.And I truly believe Shahid has inherited Pankaj’s ability and style of performing without seening to act. It is definitely in his dna, ” says Amole who has earlier worked with Aamir Khan in Taare Zameen Par.

“But not as an actor. When you’re facing the camera with a co-star you become compatriots in the canvas of characterization. On many occasions I was startled by Shahid’s passion for excellence.I saw the same quality in Aamir.”

In fact Amole now intends to cast Shahid in the film that he’ll direct.

Amole rates Shahid in Kaminey as a benchmark in male performances. “I don’t think a double role has been done like this before. Shahid has entered Guddu and Charlie’s world. Naseer and Pankaj apart I know very actors who could’ve done what he has.”

On many occasions Shahid would remain in character for days so that he wouldn’t lose thread of the two roles.

The fact that both Priyanka and Shahid play more than one role in What’s Your Raashee and Kaminey, respectively, gave them a common platform to share their multiple-personality experiences with one another.

Says Amole, “It’s an adrenaline-charged performance. On many occasions as we performed together I’d forget how young Shahid is. This level of passion in a performance comes to an actor after decades, not after 3-4 years of acting.”

Amole ‘s opinion is that this is no Ram Aur Shyam kind of double role. “In fact in Kaminey two different characters played by one actor. And Shahid should be up for two best actor nominations in Kaminey.”

Mumbai: Shahid Kapur was fuming after he learnt that an impersonator had created a fake ID on Twitter and a complaint was lodged from the actor’s side to Twitter asking them to pull the plug on the impersonator who was posing as the real star and even connecting with his fans.

In what is probably the first case of its kind in India involving an Indian celebrity and a social networking site, Shahid’s fake ID on the site has been disabled by the site’s managers on the grounds of impersonation. Shahid had gone on record and told DNA earlier that he was being impersonated. This followed another story on how the impersonator even contacted Shahid’s publicist and refused to part with this id. Shahid’s publicist had filed an impersonation complaint to Twitter for the same.

“Being a fan is understandable, but impersonating your idol and fooling people — that’s clearly crossing the line. Fortunately Twitter has a great staff and they have taken immediate action and put this matter to rest. It was a minor problem but, it was a problem all the same. Well, not any longer,” said a source close to the star.

They may be playing hide and seek about their relationship, but Shahid Kapoor won’t take any loose talk about Piggy Chops lying down. The actor was down at a popular radion station with director Vishal Bhardwaj to promte their upcoming film Kaminey when suddenly the conversation careened out of control. Matters were proceeding smoothly till the jockey asked Shahid about how it was working with Priyanka.

“Shahid said said that the first half of the film’s shooting involved only men and wasn’t that much fun but when Priyanka came in, it was a breath of fresh air. There was chatter and laughter – mood became very light and she made work fun for everybody,” a source quotes Shahid as saying.

To this, the radio jockey responded that ‘it must have been very difficult for Priyanka to satisfy so many men on the sets.’ And all hell broke loose.

Shahid and Vishal threatened to walk out of the interview midway and relented only when the radio station offered an apology and deleted the recording. “Shahid was stunned that the jockey could say such a cheap thing. He was furious but the jockey repeatedly kept saying sorry. Vishal too was in no mood to carry on with the interview. Though the recording was started again, they were very curt with their answers and left soon after,” the source adds.

Shahid Kapoor is being impersonated on Twitter. There are about 3000 fans following this ID, assuming that this is the real Shahid. Shahid Kapoor is not registered on Twitter. This identity is fake and Shahid’s management has already put a complaint to the portal.

“My friends brought to my notice that there is a profile of Shahid Kapoor that is active on Twitter, and this person has been connecting with my fans, who don’t know that the ID is fake. I’d like to clarify that I am not on Twitter and my management has complained about this impersonation to the site” clarifies Shahid.

Shahid Kapur has been voted the Sexiest Vegetarian in Asia in a poll conducted by PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals). Though Shahid won the poll by a good margin of more votes, according to sources his former girlfriend Kareena Kapoor lost out by a thin margin to Taiwanese actor-singer Barbie Hsu. Ironically, it was Shahid who reportedly convinced Kareena to become a vegetarian when they were dating a couple of years back.

The other contendants who lost out to Shahid and Barbie were Mongolian singer Nominjin, pop star Faye Wong, model Maggie Q, Bollywood actor Mahima Chaudhary, Hong Kong pop star and actor Stephy Tang and Taiwanese music legend Yaya Meng.

Says Shahid, “It feels great. Being sexy is a matter of perception but being a vegetarian is a matter of choice. I have always supported the cause of being a vegetarian and it’s nice to be felicitated for something so close to my heart. This poll win also goes to break the myth that fitness cannot be achieved by eating vegetarian food.”

“Going vegetarian is the best thing you can do for animals, the Earth and your health. Plus, there’s no easier way to stay slim and sexy — and Barbie and Shahid are living proof,” adds PETA’s Asia-Pacific Director Jason Baker. From America, Natalie Portman was declared the winner. Other top vote-getters were Hayden Panettiere, Milo Ventimiglia, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Leona Lewis and Olivia Wilde, who recently also took the top spot on Maxim’s Hot 100 list.