Besharam is Ranbir's Dabangg

Subhash K Jha (DNA; August 15, 2013)

The promos of Raj Kumar Santoshi's Phata Poster Nikla Hero shows Shahid Kapoor doing the Khaki-clad Dabangg act. But the more entertaining aspect to this wannabe Chulbul Pandey's Dabangg is that the Phata Poster… role was originally written for Ranbir Kapoor.

Says a reliable source, "This is the script that Santoshi wanted to make right after Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani again featuring Ranbir and Katrina, for the same producers (Tips). But Ranbir had other plans. He wanted to do his own Dabangg-style massy entertainer with the Dabangg director. That's how Ranbir became a part of director Abhinav Kashyap's Besharam where he plays a con-man on the run in Delhi-Haryana while his parents Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor play cops on Ranbir's trail. In fact Ranbir tells all his friends that Besharam is his Dabangg."

Rishi confirms, "It is our family's out-and-out commercial entertainer. Very much in the Dabangg and Rowdy Rathod genre of entertainment." A source close to Besharam predicts the film would be Ranbir's biggest blockbuster to date. "We expect it to be bigger than Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani. It's Ranbir's most massy film to date. Full-on time-pass."