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Ahead Of The Curve
Two years ago, he was just another star kid. But with three memorable solo-lead releases last year, the newest Kapoor on the block seems to have worked it all out quite well.
Considering the kind of roles he has played so far (mostly fresh-out-of-college kid), you could be forgiven for expecting Ranbir to be like that in real life too. But either he's grown up in the past couple of years or he's a damn convincing actor. Sure, when you come from the first family of Bollywood, you'd think acting and the movies run in your bloodstream or something. That with Awaara in your head and Karz in your heart, if you so much as opened your mouth, a Filmfare speech would run automatically off your tongue. That you would have grown up on sets and in recording studios and would be so comfortable under the arc lights that the whole world might as well be a stage. But does all this apply to Ranbir Kapoor? Yes, a half yes and a half no.
But Ranbir doesn't really agree with the first yes. After all, his sister was never interested in the movies. Sometimes, however, genes get diffused and sometimes they get concentrated, don't they? "I would like to believe that movies run in my blood," he says. "Every conversation in my family is about the movies. We talk, eat, sleep films. We didn't talk about who won the Nobel, it was rather who won the Filmfare or the National Awards. For me, it became my life. I play sports but we didn't exactly discuss sports. Or engineering," he says, adding, "The reel world is the world I've existed in. The outside world is the unreal world." There is, he says, a fine line between the reel and the real. And in his case it veers towards the reel. Which is why it was sort of a given that he would be in the industry. "I came from a filmi family so it was sort of preconceived but then there was never any moment when I sat my parents down and said 'I need to tell you something'."
But he didn't take the father-launches-son kind of route into Bollywood. At 18, he was off to New York, away from his protected childhood, to study films. "I met and lived with people from all over the world, made movies." And learnt some things about life too. "About being independent, saving and valuing money, I didn't know how to budget… it taught me all that." After which and before acting, he wanted to spend time on a set and so like any other newcomer starting out in any industry, he went and dropped off his resum with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "I wanted to experience cinema, acting, life on the sets, assist a film-maker," he says of working on Black. Then Saawariya happened, followed by Bachna Ae Haseeno. "My first film came very easily but beyond that the audience doesn't see that (the surname)," he says. So even while he was working on that rakish role in Bachna... that makes it difficult to take your eyes off him on the screen, never mind what the rest of the movie is like, he was offered and took up Ayan Mukerji's Wake Up Sid, Raj Kumar Santoshi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Shimit Amin's Rocket Singh, Salesman of the Year. All a mixed bunch of roles, all of which released last year.
"Yes, it's been more than a good year. Not because of the fate of the movies but because I worked all year round, I worked every day. Wake Up Sid was a hit, Ajab... was one of the biggest hits of the year while Rocket Singh is my best work so far, according to me. I loved the character, the nobility of the film. I've done a Yash Raj rom-com and that and Ajab… came easily to me. The others I had to work hard on but I felt creatively satisfied," he says. "I did not see Wake Up Sid as an arty film. I didn't pick it for that. We are at a time of progressive cinema and this was more real. Of course, I'm here to be a commercial actor, I don't want to do films for six people." Directors may have taken a risk signing on a newcomer but there's also an element of his choice of the director and the films. "When you hear scripts, you have to follow your heart. All I do is listen. What appeals to me, what is most important is the director's vision. You can tell when they believe in their script."
With a lineage like his you'd think acting, picking scripts, would, should, all come naturally to him. He's spoken countless times about his regard for grandfather Raj Kapoor ("Raj Kapoor is the ideal actor, I'm nowhere close") and about how father Rishi Kapoor is his favourite actor in the world. He wouldn't eat dinner without having his favourite movie put on… "Karz, Naseeb, primarily my father's films." And like every aspiring actor, as a kid he's stood in front of a mirror, rehearsed Filmfare award speeches and "even if I'm genuinely hurt, I go and see how I look". But what happens on the set he can't really tell. "When you rehearse for a role, you bring a personal sense to it, you work on the mannerisms you bring to that character, not just the physical appearance but also the layers. You can think about it for a year but it only happens when you actually start performing. What happens between 'action' and 'cut', you don't realise, what happens, it's a blur... you just live the character, you don't really know how it has happened. The day you say 'oh how I nailed it' is the day you have become aware of what you are doing. That's why I think all this method acting, being a director's actor, I don't believe in it… if I'm making any sense."
He's sitting on the sofa, after the quickest photo shoot we've ever done, talking in a quick, matter-of-fact way, barely pausing to think, rattling off answers just like, apparently, he's been rattling off expressions during the shoot — from wistful to wicked, in a matter of seconds. He may be unaware of how he delivers a shot, but he's completely aware of what he's doing and where he's going. "Saawariya didn't do well but I do have this sense of confidence. I understand movies, I work hard and I'm quite decent at what I do. The fate of a film is not in my hands… otherwise I would be a crorepati. But I want to do diverse roles… maintain mystery and confusion… make people think what's he about. People won't typecast me then," he says, adding, "But I'm not trying to be different. I read 10 scripts a day but I definitely do what I want to do. It's my career, this industry is not about favours."
Playing a Sikh in a film like Rocket Singh was certainly one to add to his 'diverse' kitty. "We wanted somebody young, someone who could play a credible sardar. It's a quality he had, a freshness, that kind of wide-eyedness," says director Shimit Amin. "It was a tricky role. It wasn't a typical Hindi film. But Ranbir put in a lot of effort and did a wonderful job. He understands acting and has a natural persona. And he doesn't like to use the Kapoor name as a crutch. If anything, the prejudice is there against him."
Ranbir's next, Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, too is as different as it gets. Besides which he is working on Anjaana Anjaani with Priyanka Chopra and Imtiaz Ali's next, still untitled. "Rajneeti is the first man character I play. Usually, so far, my roles have been that of coming-of-age boy. It's a political, dark film and it was a complex part. I realised that after I had finished playing it. Sometimes you realise it after a film is finished, sometimes a year later, sometimes 10." So would he change anything? "Everything. I'm not always happy with what I do. I cringe when I see myself on screen," he says. Jha has said that he wanted someone suave, sophisticated and English-speaking. "He suited my character. He plays not a politician but a young man who wants to get out of politics but is sucked into it," says Jha who signed him on after seeing him in Saawariya. To prepare for his role, Jha made him take Hindi lessons and cultivate an American accent to sound like an America-returned Delhi boy who suddenly needs to go from monosyllabic rashtra bhasha to full speeches. "He's one hell of a sincere guy and actor. He's not only good but also works on his character." What's also different about Rajneeti is that unlike Ranbir's films so far, it's an ensemble cast. "It's not that different actually. It's not like you have to give only 30 per cent in acting. Yes, the number of days you work is less."
That's not something he would normally be happy to do. In a perfect world he would want to be in the movies forever (though not have a perfect life, "that would be boring"), working every day. "I love the movies, it's like being on a merry-go-round in Disneyland." And no, as a kid he did not grow up on the sets. "My parents consciously kept us away from the sets. Sometimes we would go on a set if dad was working late and we hadn't seen him in a while," he recollects. And yet, this thing definitely seeped in. This thing that adds to the genes and makes him so comfortable in the spotlight and everything connected to the movies. "It's a lovely industry and I hope I last even 10 years," says the 27-year-old who wants to act, produce, direct "what story comes to me instinctively. It's spiritual in a way, it'll happen." So what is the best thing about being in the movies? A long silence follows. It stretches on. Then he finally breaks the silence. "Long pause," he says with a small laugh. "I haven't discovered it yet. It's all good but I'll discover it… I hope after 30 years." Hope that after 30 years he'll be around and after having done everything associated with the movies he will have an answer. Yes, 30 years on, he owes us an answer to that one.
Two years ago, he was just another star kid. But with three memorable solo-lead releases last year, the newest Kapoor on the block seems to have worked it all out quite well.
Considering the kind of roles he has played so far (mostly fresh-out-of-college kid), you could be forgiven for expecting Ranbir to be like that in real life too. But either he's grown up in the past couple of years or he's a damn convincing actor. Sure, when you come from the first family of Bollywood, you'd think acting and the movies run in your bloodstream or something. That with Awaara in your head and Karz in your heart, if you so much as opened your mouth, a Filmfare speech would run automatically off your tongue. That you would have grown up on sets and in recording studios and would be so comfortable under the arc lights that the whole world might as well be a stage. But does all this apply to Ranbir Kapoor? Yes, a half yes and a half no.
But Ranbir doesn't really agree with the first yes. After all, his sister was never interested in the movies. Sometimes, however, genes get diffused and sometimes they get concentrated, don't they? "I would like to believe that movies run in my blood," he says. "Every conversation in my family is about the movies. We talk, eat, sleep films. We didn't talk about who won the Nobel, it was rather who won the Filmfare or the National Awards. For me, it became my life. I play sports but we didn't exactly discuss sports. Or engineering," he says, adding, "The reel world is the world I've existed in. The outside world is the unreal world." There is, he says, a fine line between the reel and the real. And in his case it veers towards the reel. Which is why it was sort of a given that he would be in the industry. "I came from a filmi family so it was sort of preconceived but then there was never any moment when I sat my parents down and said 'I need to tell you something'."
But he didn't take the father-launches-son kind of route into Bollywood. At 18, he was off to New York, away from his protected childhood, to study films. "I met and lived with people from all over the world, made movies." And learnt some things about life too. "About being independent, saving and valuing money, I didn't know how to budget… it taught me all that." After which and before acting, he wanted to spend time on a set and so like any other newcomer starting out in any industry, he went and dropped off his resum with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "I wanted to experience cinema, acting, life on the sets, assist a film-maker," he says of working on Black. Then Saawariya happened, followed by Bachna Ae Haseeno. "My first film came very easily but beyond that the audience doesn't see that (the surname)," he says. So even while he was working on that rakish role in Bachna... that makes it difficult to take your eyes off him on the screen, never mind what the rest of the movie is like, he was offered and took up Ayan Mukerji's Wake Up Sid, Raj Kumar Santoshi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Shimit Amin's Rocket Singh, Salesman of the Year. All a mixed bunch of roles, all of which released last year.
"Yes, it's been more than a good year. Not because of the fate of the movies but because I worked all year round, I worked every day. Wake Up Sid was a hit, Ajab... was one of the biggest hits of the year while Rocket Singh is my best work so far, according to me. I loved the character, the nobility of the film. I've done a Yash Raj rom-com and that and Ajab… came easily to me. The others I had to work hard on but I felt creatively satisfied," he says. "I did not see Wake Up Sid as an arty film. I didn't pick it for that. We are at a time of progressive cinema and this was more real. Of course, I'm here to be a commercial actor, I don't want to do films for six people." Directors may have taken a risk signing on a newcomer but there's also an element of his choice of the director and the films. "When you hear scripts, you have to follow your heart. All I do is listen. What appeals to me, what is most important is the director's vision. You can tell when they believe in their script."
With a lineage like his you'd think acting, picking scripts, would, should, all come naturally to him. He's spoken countless times about his regard for grandfather Raj Kapoor ("Raj Kapoor is the ideal actor, I'm nowhere close") and about how father Rishi Kapoor is his favourite actor in the world. He wouldn't eat dinner without having his favourite movie put on… "Karz, Naseeb, primarily my father's films." And like every aspiring actor, as a kid he's stood in front of a mirror, rehearsed Filmfare award speeches and "even if I'm genuinely hurt, I go and see how I look". But what happens on the set he can't really tell. "When you rehearse for a role, you bring a personal sense to it, you work on the mannerisms you bring to that character, not just the physical appearance but also the layers. You can think about it for a year but it only happens when you actually start performing. What happens between 'action' and 'cut', you don't realise, what happens, it's a blur... you just live the character, you don't really know how it has happened. The day you say 'oh how I nailed it' is the day you have become aware of what you are doing. That's why I think all this method acting, being a director's actor, I don't believe in it… if I'm making any sense."
He's sitting on the sofa, after the quickest photo shoot we've ever done, talking in a quick, matter-of-fact way, barely pausing to think, rattling off answers just like, apparently, he's been rattling off expressions during the shoot — from wistful to wicked, in a matter of seconds. He may be unaware of how he delivers a shot, but he's completely aware of what he's doing and where he's going. "Saawariya didn't do well but I do have this sense of confidence. I understand movies, I work hard and I'm quite decent at what I do. The fate of a film is not in my hands… otherwise I would be a crorepati. But I want to do diverse roles… maintain mystery and confusion… make people think what's he about. People won't typecast me then," he says, adding, "But I'm not trying to be different. I read 10 scripts a day but I definitely do what I want to do. It's my career, this industry is not about favours."
Playing a Sikh in a film like Rocket Singh was certainly one to add to his 'diverse' kitty. "We wanted somebody young, someone who could play a credible sardar. It's a quality he had, a freshness, that kind of wide-eyedness," says director Shimit Amin. "It was a tricky role. It wasn't a typical Hindi film. But Ranbir put in a lot of effort and did a wonderful job. He understands acting and has a natural persona. And he doesn't like to use the Kapoor name as a crutch. If anything, the prejudice is there against him."
Ranbir's next, Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, too is as different as it gets. Besides which he is working on Anjaana Anjaani with Priyanka Chopra and Imtiaz Ali's next, still untitled. "Rajneeti is the first man character I play. Usually, so far, my roles have been that of coming-of-age boy. It's a political, dark film and it was a complex part. I realised that after I had finished playing it. Sometimes you realise it after a film is finished, sometimes a year later, sometimes 10." So would he change anything? "Everything. I'm not always happy with what I do. I cringe when I see myself on screen," he says. Jha has said that he wanted someone suave, sophisticated and English-speaking. "He suited my character. He plays not a politician but a young man who wants to get out of politics but is sucked into it," says Jha who signed him on after seeing him in Saawariya. To prepare for his role, Jha made him take Hindi lessons and cultivate an American accent to sound like an America-returned Delhi boy who suddenly needs to go from monosyllabic rashtra bhasha to full speeches. "He's one hell of a sincere guy and actor. He's not only good but also works on his character." What's also different about Rajneeti is that unlike Ranbir's films so far, it's an ensemble cast. "It's not that different actually. It's not like you have to give only 30 per cent in acting. Yes, the number of days you work is less."
That's not something he would normally be happy to do. In a perfect world he would want to be in the movies forever (though not have a perfect life, "that would be boring"), working every day. "I love the movies, it's like being on a merry-go-round in Disneyland." And no, as a kid he did not grow up on the sets. "My parents consciously kept us away from the sets. Sometimes we would go on a set if dad was working late and we hadn't seen him in a while," he recollects. And yet, this thing definitely seeped in. This thing that adds to the genes and makes him so comfortable in the spotlight and everything connected to the movies. "It's a lovely industry and I hope I last even 10 years," says the 27-year-old who wants to act, produce, direct "what story comes to me instinctively. It's spiritual in a way, it'll happen." So what is the best thing about being in the movies? A long silence follows. It stretches on. Then he finally breaks the silence. "Long pause," he says with a small laugh. "I haven't discovered it yet. It's all good but I'll discover it… I hope after 30 years." Hope that after 30 years he'll be around and after having done everything associated with the movies he will have an answer. Yes, 30 years on, he owes us an answer to that one.
Cricket
Arjun
Jhanak
20