MUMBAI: Actor Shahid Kapoor, who is gearing up for "Kabir Singh", says the use of alcohol and cigarettes is just to express the pain of the character, and that the audience should not get drawn into it.
Shahid, along with Kiara Advani and the makers of the film, released the trailer of the film which is a Hindi remake of the Telugu film "Arjun Reddy". The film has received flak for the use of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and foul language.
Talking about the film and the dark streak of the character he plays, Shahid said here on Monday: "This is a very special film. It is straight from the heart, and I think best films are ones which come straight from the heart. 'Kabir Singh' is an intense love and beautiful love story and please don't get drawn into the fact that there is alcohol, cigarettes and things like that are shown in the film.
"Sometimes to show the pain a man goes through, you need to use certain things to help the audience understand that and there is a lot of honesty in the film."
Shahid said constant comparisons are being drawn to the edgy characters that he has played in "Udta Punjab" and "Haider".
However, he asserted that his "Kabir Singh" role is "very different from the characters I've played before".
"Everyone thinks it a very edgy role and people are drawing parallels to my role of Tommy Singh in 'Udta Punjab' and some portions of 'Haider'. But this is a love story and the insanity is there because of the fact that the man has a broken heart, and there is deep emotion at the heart of this film."
"Kabir Singh" is written and directed by Sandeep Vanga and is jointly produced by Cine1 Studios and T-Series. The film will release on June 21.