An opportune time for me in films: Arjun Kapoor

With films like "Panipat", "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" and "India's Most Wanted" in his kitty, actor Arjun Kapoor says he is in the best phase of his career as he is "finally" playing mature characters.

The 32-year-old actor says he is happy to collaborate with filmmakers like Ashutosh Gowariker, Raj Kumar Gupta and Dibakar Banerjee.

"It is exciting and opportune time for me in my career. Somebody like Ashutosh Gowariker, who has achieved fantastic heights, has chosen me for 'Panipat'. His body of work speaks for him.

"I have taken it up as a challenge to be able to do a period film because you should do it with the best people and there is nobody better then Gowariker sir," Arjun told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of IIFA 2018.

The actor, who recently finished the shooting of Vipul Shah's "Namastey England", will soon start working on Gupta's "India's Most Wanted".

Arjun says he is excited about the project as it "has come in my life when I wanted to do something where I am playing a man rather than a boy".

"It is a film which is really close to my heart. It is a film that every Indian will like and appreciate and somewhere feel that the patriotism is instilled in a unique way. It is a quintessential underdog story based on true events. It is about how events unfolded to capture the most wanted terrorist of India," he adds.

The actor's two upcoming releases "Namastey England" and "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" reunites him with his first co-star Parineeti Chopra and Arjun says she brings out "the best in me as an actor".

"So much has changed but nothing has changed with Parineeti even after all these years. We picked up where we left off. It just made me happy and I was relieved. At times what happens is that people you work with and care for, you just lose touch with them. And suddenly you are working with them again but you don't know if things are still the same.

"Sometimes the magic and comfort might go away. Sometimes you build it again. In our case we had our individual journeys, but when we came back for 'Sandeep Aur Pinky...' by the third day, we had gone back to being exactly like we were during 'Ishaqzaade' and that allowed both the films to be far more stress free," Arjun says.

The actor says the comfort level he and Parineeti share has translated well on-screen and made the whole work experience "less time-consuming".

"Parineeti is an amazing girl. I am fortunate I am doing two films with her. And I am saying it genuinely before she thinks its a joke," he adds.

"Namastey England" will hit the theatres on October 19 and "Sandeep Aur Pinki Faraar" is set to release on March 1, 2019.