Carrying the burden of the prestigious name “Kapoor”, it was not easy for Ranbir Kapoor to enter the Bollywood film industry.
Although he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, to actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh Kapoor, he had the challenge to take the name of the Kapoor family to the next level.
Ranbir Kapoor’s Biggest Challenge
Maintaining the pride and prestige of Kapoors was the biggest challenge that was posing before him even before he made a debut in Bollywood.
Ranbir Kapoor was the nephew of actors Randhir Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor and grandnephew of actors Shashi Kapoor, Jennifer Kendal, Shammi Kapoor, and Geeta Bali, who had already set a number of records in the Bollywood cinema.
This made the challenge tougher. Apart from this, he also had the added pressure of the successful careers of his cousin actresses, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Karisma Kapoor. All these Kapoors had already earned name and fame in the Bollywood film industry.
Ranbir Kapoor’s Birthday
Ranbir Kapoor was born on September 28 in 1982 in one of oldest and most probably the first family of the Bollywood industry, Kapoors.
Ranbir pursued film-making and method acting at the School of Visual Arts, and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, respectively. He subsequently assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the film Black (2005).
Not many of you must be knowing that he also played a small role in Black, as a body double of Amitabh Bachchan, when he was sitting near the waterfall.
Ranbir Kapoor’s Debut Movie
Ranbir Kapoor, along with Sonam Kapoor (daughter of Anil Kapoor), made their acting debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie, Saawariya on November 9, 2007.
But the movie had a clash with Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone (debut), and was a big flop on the box office.
Next, he came with Siddharth Anand’s, Bachna Ae Haseeno on August 15, 2008, but that too was a flop. The first two years were full of struggle for Ranbir Kapoor. But, he had no idea about the next year, which changed his stars.
Ranbir Kapoor’s Bollywood Career
In 2009, the actor came up with 3 movies - Ayan Mukerji’s Wake Up Sid, Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani and Shimit Amin’s Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year. These three films of Ranbir Kapoor gave him a name in the Bollywood industry.
All three movies were of different genre and Ranbir Kapoor molded himself easily in the different characters of these Hindi films. This was just the starting. His next film, Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti starring Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Arjun Rampal came in 2010.
Rajneeti (film) was a big hit and added another star to Ranbir Kapoor’s name. The same year, he came with Siddharth Anand’s Anjaana Anjaani, alongside Priyanka Chopra, which gained popularity among the youngsters.
This was just a start of Ranbir Kapoor’s journey in the Bollywood industry and he had already worked with such great directors and played a number of typical roles with ease.
The actual challenge of molding himself in the characters of the movies came to him in 2011 with Imtiaz Ali’s movie Rockstar and in 2012 with Anurag Basu’s movie Barfi.
Both of these movies, Rockstar and Barfi, were high-budget movies and the expectations of the fans and critics were on the seventh sky. By now, Ranbir Kapoor has become a big name.
Not disappointing the expectations of everyone, Ranbir Kapoor acted brilliantly in both of these movies and made them a blockbuster.
The fans and critics went crazy after watching these movies and this was the acceleration for Ranbir Kapoor. His movies went to stealing records and gave him stardom in the Bollywood industry.
Ranbir Kapoor’s next movie was with Ayan Mukerji in 2013, starring Deepika Padukone, Aditya Roy Kapoor, and Kalki Koechlin - Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani.
The YJHD movie needs no description as it became the favorite movie of almost every youngster and is still a popular movie, even after so many years.
The characters of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani - Naina, Bunny(Kabir), Aditi and Avi made people fall in love easily with them. Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani(YJHD) which became another blockbuster and took the name of Ranbir Kapoor to next level in the Bollywood industry.
If you haven’t watched it yet, then I don’t think you should be considered a human on this planet.
After all these movies, the expectations of the fans and critics from Ranbir Kapoor were further raised. But his next few movies didn’t perform well to the expectations.
Abhinav Kashyap’s movie Besharam, Vikramjit Singh’s movie Roy, Anurag Kashyap’s movie Bombay Velvet, and Imtiaz Ali’s movie Tamasha (2015) were a few movies that didn’t gain much appreciation from the critics.
But the fans were still crazy and loved to watch Ranbir on the big screen. That’s the good thing about the Indian audience. They don’t fail to appreciate.
Though the movie Tamasha didn’t get a good response from the critics, but the message behind the movie, “To live your dreams and choose your profession according to yourself”, was conveyed to the youngsters and many of them loved it.
Next in line, was Karan Johar’s movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which was again a blockbuster for Ranbir. The movie was released on October 28, 2016, and in the first three days only, broke the records at Box-Office collection.
No matter you have watched the movie or not but “Ek Tarfa Pyaar Ki Takat” dialogue must have met you a number of times in your everyday life. It has inspired many one-sided lovers out there!
Ranbir was not to stop here. Ranbir Kapoor loves to mold himself into new characters. He happily welcomed Anurag Basu’s movie Jagga Jasoos in 2017, where he played a role similar to that of Tin Tin.
The movie was totally different, in terms of concept, storyline, and cinematography, from the others in the Bollywood industry. But it was not much loved by the people and didn’t become a blockbuster.
Till now, Ranbir Kapoor had already converted a huge audience into his fans but he didn’t even have a clue what was going to happen next.
During the ups and downs of his acting career, Ranbir always preferred taking up challenges to mold himself into a new character.
Ranbir’s versatile attitude was already appreciated by a number of directors, yet there was something was missing with his name, something more significant than giving blockbusters!
His next project was Rajkumar Hirani’s movie Sanju, which was the biopic of Bollywood’s Munna Bhai, Sanjay Dutt.
The movie Sanju was much awaited by everyone. The fans of Sanjay Dutt and Ranbir Kapoor, both lost their calm when the first few photos of Ranbir Kapoor in the disguise of Sanjay Dutt were released over the internet.
The movie Sanju was set to release on June 29, 2018 (exactly one month before the birthday of Sanjay Dutt) and the seats in the cinema halls were pre-booked by the fans.
The movie Sanju went beyond expectations. It was not only a big blockbuster but also a speechless illustration.
The adaptation of Sanju’s character by Ranbir Kapoor was so exceptionally amazing that even Sanjay Dutt couldn’t resist himself appreciating the acting skills possessed by Ranbir Kapoor.
Sanju broke all the records in the Bollywood industry and even left behind one of the most expensive movies in Bollywood, Baahubali, in the box-office collection.
Ranbir Kapoor’s Life Facts
You’ll be amazed to know that Ranbir Kapoor is not on any social media platform till now. He believes in face-to-face conversation and direct interactions with fans.
Ranbir Kapoor has indirectly told this in many of his interviews, but when asked directly by Tanmay Bhatt, in one of the AIB’s podcasts, Ranbir clearly stated that he is not on any social media.
All the accounts on social media are handled and taken care of by the fans or any of his family members. Though his father, Rishi Kapoor, has insisted him to at least be on Twitter to connect with the others, but he denied.
Moreover, Ranbir Kapoor is a bigger fan of football than cricket. He loves to watch football matches and even plays for many clubs.
Ranbir supports and encourages sports in all the ways he could. His favorite player is Lionel Messi and his favorite team is Barcelona. He also co-owns (with Bimal Parekh, a chartered accountant) a football team, Mumbai City FC (MCFC), who plays in the Indian Super League(ISL).
Ranbir Kapoor Upcoming Films
Ranbir Kapoor has already won millions of hearts by his charming nature and amazing acting skills. Bunny, Jordan, Barfi, Prem, Sid, Ayan, Ved, Sanju or simply Ranbir! He is loved by everyone.
Now the fans are eagerly waiting for his next movie Brahamastra. Ranbir is doing this film with Ayan Mukerji, along with Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bachan. The movie is expected to be released on Independence Day(August 15, 2019).
After Brahamastra, Ranbir Kapoor’s next movie will be Karan Malhotra’s movie Shamshera, along with Vaani Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt, which is expected to be released in July 2020.
Fans can also expect to see him in a leading actor in Kishore Kumar’s biopic by Anurag Basu.
Ranbir Kapoor’s Awards and Honors
Ranbir Kapoor is definitely the youth icon of a number of people all around the globe. He has also won many awards (including five Filmfare awards) before the release of his most successful movie Sanju.
Now, how many awards will Sanju bring to his collection still remains a mystery!
Do comment and let us know that which is your favorite character and favorite movie of Ranbir Kapoor.