Mumbai | Shahid Kapoor is no stranger to complex characters and yet he considers his portrayal of a cop in "Deva" the most challenging performance of his career.

The action thriller revolves around a rebellious police officer (Kapoor) tasked with solving a high-profile case that unravels layers of deceit, betrayal, and a dangerous conspiracy.

The movie is helmed by noted Malayalam director Rosshan Andrrews, known for blockbusters such as “Salute” and “Kayamkulam Kochunni”.

“This is the most complex character I’ve played having said that, I’ve played a few. But if there’s any character that has challenged me yet again, to ask myself whether I’m capable of doing this or not, then that is Deva.

"Roshan created this character and we both developed this year for a year and then shot for it,” said Kapoor, known for films such as “Haider”, “Kabir Singh”, “Jersey”, and “Jab We Met”.

The 43-year-old actor was speaking at the trailer launch of “Deva”, which also stars Pooja Hegde as an investigative journalist and Pavail Gulati as a fellow cop.

Kapoor said he is always looking forward to doing roles that will help him grow as an artist, and “Deva” seemed like a perfect opportunity.

“As an actor, you always want to do something that lets you grow and takes you to another level as an artist. I can’t do just anything, I’ve to do things as per the requirement of the story and character, and I know I would hopefully do well.

"After a while, I got an opportunity as an actor to do something that would make me happy. There’s an overwhelming personality that Deva has which gives him that charisma and star quality, so it needed to be a combination of both those elements,” he added.

Andrrews said the action sequences in “Deva” are designed in such a way that they don't feel like they have added for the sake of it.

“I always believe in myself, in my instinct, and I don’t get bothered about what’s happening in other (action) films. I wrote all the action sequences in ‘Deva’ myself. Action is part of the screenplay and story structure, it’s not that we’ve added action sequences just for the sake of it,” the director said.

Hegde, who essays the role of a journalist, called her character an "alpha female".

“You need a lot of guts, and courage to do the job that you guys are doing. Diya is a perfect takkar to Deva’s character. You guys have seen alpha male many times but now it's time to see alpha females. She is not afraid to speak her mind, to say what she is feeling, she is bold, and she is a girl of today,” she said.

Gulati said he has been a fan of Kapoor so much so that he even followed his footsteps and joined Shiamak Davar’s dance academy.

“Our bromance onscreen was fantastic because we got along very well off-screen,” the actor said, expressing gratitude to producer Siddharth Roy Kapur for offering him work after the release of his much-acclaimed movie, “Thappad”.

On a query about the box office pressure, Kapoor said who doesn't want to be part of a successful film.

“We make films for the audience and if they don't come to watch the movie, then it does hurt, we fail and we will fail. But the attempt is always to show the film to more people,” he said.

“If you make a film thinking about how many people will watch it then you will be limited as a creative person. So, you can run in a 100-meter race where you make only those films that are working at the box office but if you want to be in for the long run then you've to evolve, you will have to do different things,” Kapoor added.

Produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films in collaboration with Zee Studios, the movie will hit the screens on January 31.