How Arjun Kapoor Ended Up Falling In Love With The Old Yezdi

Before playing a lover boy in flicks like 2 States, Half Girlfriend, and Ki & Ka, Arjun Kapoor portrayed a small-town boy with a hit-first-talk-later attitude in his debut movie Ishaqzaade. The character of Arjun — Parma Chauhan — was not the only one that was talked about after the movie was released. The bike driven by Arjun Kapoor — Yezdi —was also a source of much conversation.

The idea came from Habib Faisal, the writer and director of the film, to rekindle the memories of the viewers with a beat-up version of the yellow Yezdi. The bike has an element of rebel and ruggedness and it complemented the character played by Arjun Kapoor in Ishaqzaade.

Photo Credit: yezdi.com

Faisal also had a childhood connection to the Yezdi that prompted him to choose this bike as Parma´s steed in the film. As a child, he spent most of his summers in Bhopal, where his uncle owned a bike-maintenance garage. “Ànyone with a Yezdi was treated like a king,” he said in an interview to a popular newspaper. “Ónce the bike was fixed, they would start up the engine and listen to the sound, which was unique to this brand.”

Although the team was able to source two similar-looking yellow Yezdis from the city of Lucknow for the shoot, not everything went as planned. The bikes had temperamental issues at the start. Though they gave the actor a tough time and caused some delays, the charisma and charm of the Yezdi eventually won over the debutant actor.

Also Read: Indian Movies Featuring The Yezdi

The actor started preparing for the role with the bike around a month before the shoot. Arjun got better during the 60-day shoot of the movie and eventually fell in love with the Yezdi. He was often seen cruising around on the sets of the movie between shots.

For the viewers who had only seen Japanese bikes over the last few decades, the image of Arjun Kapoor driving a Yezdi in a small town was refreshing and reminiscent of the golden era of Bollywood.

Photo Credit: yezdi.com

In a sense, it was not only the debut movie of Arjun Kapoor, but also a comeback of the Yezdi in Bollywood. The vintage motorcycle, Jawa, has been used by actors like Shahrukh Khan (Kabhi Haa Kabhi Naa) and Amitabh Bachchan (Parvarish) in the past.

Also Read: Greatest Motorcycles Of The 21st Century So Far

Arjun said in an interview later that he only started riding bikes with the Yezdi in the movie. Before that, he had never driven a bike in this life. He added that he prefers cars for moving around as compared to bikes. That too, he prefers SUVs to sedans.

Arjun has ridden bikes in many films since then. We would certainly want to see Arjun back on the Yezdi in one of his upcoming projects, isn't it?