Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor will be back in romantic-comedy films with Luv Ranjan’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar, which co-stars Shraddha Kapoor. In the run up to the film’s Mar 8 release, Ranbir speaks to Souvik Ghosh on his new film, his career graph, personal life and more.
Excerpts…
Q. Do you hesitate choosing scripts of rom-coms as such films are getting rare nowadays?
A. It’s a very tough genre. The concept and conflict of love are changing with the world’s growth at a rapid pace. We are also very influenced by the western culture when we make rom-coms. I think the true rom-com films are Jab We Met, Band Baaja Baaraat which we love because they are very seeped into our culture. The conflicts are very relatable. It’s tough to be offered with scripts like Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, which is a very hilarious take on love and family. I didn’t act in a rom-com for a long time because I was not offered such a script.
Q. Are rom-coms tougher than biopics to you?
A. I always feel the rom-com genre is very tough because an actor does not have a character to hide behind. In a rom-com, one has to reflect a lot on his/her own personality. Moreover, an actor showing abs on-screen is a very sad person because he literally starves for three-four months (laughs).
Q. Do you think the concept of love has also changed over the years?
A. At this age being a married man with a child, I feel love keeps changing and evolving but its basic pillars- trust, respect and understanding- remain the same. Relationships, be it any kind, require a lot of hard work unlike in the movies where the kind of love shown is very aspirational but not realistic.
Q. How has life changed after the birth of your daughter Raha?
A. I don’t feel like leaving home. It’s truly the best feeling in the world. Her birth feels like a new understanding of love.
Q. You suffered both success and failure in the form of Brahmastra and Shamhera respectively last year. How do you decode it?
A. I think there have been both successful and failed films in my 15-year-old career. From the very early in my career, I am someone who is very detached from success and failure. I think failures, which have always taught me something about myself and life, are very important. It’s very important to own failure and speak of it. I am very happy to speak about my failures rather than my successes.
Q. Several Bengali films had to sacrifice their shows when Pathaan was released in West Bengal. What’s your take on that?
A. I am not aware of it. But I am very happy for the success of Pathaan. The film industry needed it. I think what Mr. Shah Rukh Khan and the entire team of Pathaan have given to the film industry is great. I have seen Mr. Shah Rukh Khan as an actor, had the opportunity to work with him for a couple of scenes and saw him only giving to the industry for 25-30 years. It’s not easy to have that longevity. He deserves all the success and I am proud of what Pathaan has done for the Indian film industry.
Q. Recently Aditya Roy Kapur’s acting in The Night Manager has created a buzz. Do you have any plans to venture into OTT?
A. I haven’t been offered any work on OTT yet. So I have no plans right now. But for the last 25-30 years, there has not been one day gone by where I haven’t consumed any content. I watch a movie a day. I am a big lover of global cinema as well as the ones made in our country. I have watched The Nightmanager and Farzi which were amazing. I have also been watching The Last of Us. So OTT content is very fun but it has to be extremely engaging to keep the audience glued to the screen.
Q. Any confirmation about you playing Sourav Ganguly on-screen?
A. I think Dada is a living legend, not just in India but around the world. A biopic on him will be very special. Unfortunately, I have not been offered the film. I think the makers are still writing the script. I have been working on the biopic of Kishor Kumar for 11 years and I am hoping that it will be my next biopic. But apart from that, I am not aware of the biopic on Dada. (IBNS)
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