3 min readMumbaiJan 31, 2026 01:18 PM IST
Over the last few years, there has been increasing debate about how doom scrolling has affected attention spans, with many suggesting that people no longer have the patience for long-form entertainment. Some even cite it as one of the reasons as to why Bollywood is going through a downward spiral, as audiences seem less inclined to watch films. However, Shahid Kapoor, who is gearing up for the release of his next film O’Romeo, recently spoke at length about the same but added that the current struggles of the film industry can’t just be blamed on “low attention spans.”
In a conversation with Prakhar Gupta on his YouTube channel, he said, “See, the candle is burning from both ends. The audience is losing patience; their minds can’t focus. They need stimulation, they need breaks, because it’s a dopamine hit. The creators are doing the same to themselves, so when they try to focus and work, their ability to create is compromised. It’s not that the audience doesn’t want to watch films; it’s also that we are not making as many good films as we should. So it’s a two-way process.”
Shahid also weighed in on another challenge that has plagued the industry for some time: manufactured marketing. He explained, “People don’t understand, but it’s a miracle of life. That a room full of people is actually clapping, whistling, and acknowledging you, giving you status above their own, it’s a very beautiful thing. That’s why art is special. But when that purity starts to be disrupted and something manufactured comes into it, it no longer feels the same.”
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He added, “Marketing is something everyone has to do, you have to do it, I have to do it. But when does marketing cross the line between right and wrong? How much is too much? That really comes from your own sense of morality. If you’re choosing to work from that place, it’s different. But if you’re only working for business and numbers, then that’s just business and numbers, and that’s your experience of life.” On authenticity in art, Shahid said, “If you are seeking something authentic, human, spontaneous, then you should let it happen. Don’t try to control it.”
Recently Shahid, also opened up about nepotism and clarified that being the son of actor Pankaj Kapur did not give him any advantages: “People think I am an actor because I am Pankaj Kapur’s son, but my parents separated when I was just three. I didn’t spend much time with my father, so nobody even knew I was his son, nor did I ever use his name. I lived with my mother. Things just fell into place for me. I never asked my father for help, and he never made calls to get me work,” he told Punjab First Voice podcast.
