Kunaal Roy Kapur on Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’s Taran becoming a social media hero

Love is in the air with Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani hitting theatres again. The coming-of-age drama directed by Ayan Mukerji was released in 2013 and created a furore amongst young audiences. Exploring the themes of friendships, love, and the quest to live life, the Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika Padukone film is #goals for many. While their camaraderie with Aditya Roy Kapur and Kalki Koechlin was much loved, Kunaal Roy Kapur’s Taran found many takers for being a ‘green flag’ and latently gained success as a social media hero.

In a recent interview with India Today Digital, Kunaal spoke about the social media fandom Taran has gained in the last few years. He also humbly refused to take any credit for the character and its popularity, stating how it’s all the writer and filmmaker’s doing.

Discussing how such characters eventually manage to get their due, the actor said, “Honestly, it depends on how it resonates with people. You go through your career and continue to do different types of roles, and a few of them manage to stick. Some are hits, and some misses. But by and large, the effort is to play parts based on some sort of reality that serves the story primarily or serves the themes of the story. And if that resonates with audiences, it sticks in people’s memory. You cannot, however, enter it thinking that I want to do these kinds of memorable roles. You have to keep working and, hopefully, some will be memorable. The bad ones will be forgotten, fortunately. But you cannot plan a lot of things.”

When asked how he reacts to social media celebrating Taran and his personality, Kunaal smiled to say, “It’s the writing. I don’t know, it’s the filmmakers and the writers. I can’t take credit for any of that. I just did a role that was shaped by others.”

His Bandish Bandits co-star Ritwik Bhowmik, who was also a part of the conversation, jumped in to share his take on Taran and how social media is celebrating him. “Instagram came in now, but I remember watching this film with an auditorium filled with people. And when he does his little thing, telling Kalki’s character why are you fighting with your friends, we will take care of it. The audience collectively went ‘awwww’. He has always been a total green flag,” he added.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is running in select cinema halls.