Arjun Kapoor recently opened up about the time when his parents’ separation affected him academically and how he dropped out of college to be an assistant director on Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003). In retrospect, the actor said that he has deleted some of his memories from that time.

During an interaction with Mashable India, Arjun reflected on how he immersed himself in films after his 10th standard. “I think I used cinema to get out of that phase after 10th,” he said. It was during this time that he began assisting his father, Boney Kapoor and also worked on Kal Ho Naa Ho.

His college experience was also not very pleasant. “I came to college in shorts, and realised I was a misfit there. I dressed in my oversized clothes and carried a school bag. I have deleted a lot of memories from those days. I bunked a lot of college. I failed in accounting but did well in other subjects. Maybe subconsciously I didn’t fit in physically because, at that time, I was the most overweight I had ever been,” he said.  

He added, “I was a very good student until my parents’ separation. Then, obviously, psychologically… it affected me. The idea was to take a break and come back to college, but my mother didn’t appreciate that I started working. It wasn’t that I left college without it bothering me. My father suggested I take a year off and see how I felt. I was privileged enough to make that choice. But I am here today because of that choice.”

Arjun was last seen in Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again, which released in theatres on November 1.