"In 'Kaminey' Charlie never used to think...he was spontaneous,
but here the guy is lot more of a thinker, planner and schemer.
I think it's fun playing a bad guy," he added.
"These guys want to do things on their own terms. That's
what today's youth are all about? They want to set their own
rules, make things in their own way. They find their own route
to success. That's why the tag line says 'they want to do all
the wrong things in the right way'," said Shahid.
Set in the 1990s, Sethi's directorial debut "Badmaash
Company" will see four young friends - Shahid, Anushka
Sharma, Vir Das and Miang Chang from middle-class Mumbai joining
hands to start a company. Their business is an instant success
because they find a way to beat the system.
The actor says every con job shown in the movie is taken from
crime stories published in the newspapers.
"When I spoke to him (director Sethi), he told me all
con jobs have been picked up from newspapers. So these things
happened and he has taken the basic thought of every con job
from real incidents and that's why it will seem believable.
It is the strength of the film," the 29-year-old said.
"And he has based it in the 1990s and the period is apt
for this kind of plot."
Shahid claims "Badmaash Company" is more believable
than 2005 movie "Bunty Aur Babli" in which Abhishek
Bachchan and Rani Mukerji conned people.
"It's a genre that really excites me. These types of film
are made less in India. I think films like 'Bunty Aur Babli'
were not really con films...it was more of a fun movie. This
one is more believable. The con jobs that have been shown in
the film I haven't seen in any Hindi or English film. It's more
original," he said.
Shahid debuted in Bollywod with "Ishq Vishk" in 2003.
After that he featured in films like "Fida", "Dil
Maange More", "36 China Town" and "Vivah",
but he got his major break with 2007 hit "Jab We Met".
It was followed by "Kaminey", which won him critical
and commercial acclaim.
Shahid says he's been lucky to get challenging roles after
Imtiaz Ali's "Jab We Met".
"I am happy. This is something that I hadn't done for
the first three-four years of my career. Of late...it's exciting
to get the opportunity to do roles like this."
"Sometimes you get roles that break the ice. For me, 'Kaminey'
and 'Jab We Met' were of those kind. It showed me new light.
This film is also like that but apart from just the role, I
think it's the space of the film...a con job film based in the
1990s, a very youth-oriented film and I am working with three
new people.
"When I read the script, I found it very, very fresh.
I have been really lucky in the last three years to get one
significant film every year," he said.
Shahid's next will be "Milenge Milenge" opposite
Kareena Kapoor. He is also working in his father Pankaj Kapoor's
directorial venture "Mausam".