Lounging on a couch at director Rajkumar Hirani’s office, Ranbir Kapoor declares, “I have learnt so much from my failures that I now understand the value of the position I am in.” Ever since Sanju’s trailer released, Kapoor has been lauded for his seamless transformation into Sanjay Dutt in Hirani’s upcoming film. We see Kapoor as Dutt go from a 22-year-old debutant in Rocky to being incarcerated and jailed in his 50s. Despite being an “emotionally and physically” draining film, the 35-year-old feels that the role is “actor-proof as it has so much material to bite into”. In fact, he became “inspired and obsessed” with Dutt’s life after reading the script. “I had an amazing set of people working on my look but that’s the superficial part,” he says. “To understand Sanju sir’ s soul and represent that honestly was truthfully more important to me.”
The real deal
Kapoor admits his personality is very different from the older actor’s who is known to be a “macho alpha male and a pop icon”. “But when Raju sir narrated the script to me, I found the story very different from the Sanjay Dutt we know. It has a more human side to it.”
The role was more challenging as Dutt is still relevant and comparisons are inevitable. “I don’t think in the history of cinema, a biopic has been made on someone who is still in the film industry,” opines the actor.
The film promises an honest depiction covering Dutt’s controversial life entirely, from his drug addiction issues, to multiple relationships and even terrorism. But in Bollywood, biopics are not really a point of strength and maintaining accuracy is a challenge. Kapoor, however, emphasises that this is “not a P.R. exercise for Sanjay Dutt” but an extremely honest confession of a man who is a flawed person. “He is someone who made irresponsible and immature mistakes but to own that and and give it to a filmmaker to show it to the world requires a lot of guts,” says Kapoor. “I don’t think Rajkumar Hirani is in a place where he needs to make a propaganda film for anyone unless he sees a human story that can inspire people.”
Peaks and plummets
Like his onscreen counterpart, Kapoor has journeyed through the highs and lows of his film career and despite having worked with promising directors such as Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali, Karan Johar, most of his films haven’t been box office successes. “An actor is known by his last release and not his filmography. That is show business. I don’t take success to my head and failure to my heart,” says the actor.
This sense of detachment comes in handy when moving onto a new project. Once the film is done, Kapoor admits he’s able to switch off. “Only Rockstar stayed with me as it emotionally drained me out. Since then, I learnt that I can’t be too indulgent and let that show in my next film,” he says adding that he identified with his character in WakeUp Sid . “I was at one point aimless and didn’t know what to do with my life. I was lazy and living off my father’s money and playing video games. Another character I really connected with would be Ved from Tamasha. ”
On a parting note, the actor reveals his intentions to eventually get behind the camera. “I would love to direct a biopic about my grandfather, if I really get permission from my family to open classified files about his life and portray him honestly,” he says adding that feel-good and life cinema are subjects he’d like to explore. “Two films I really like are Shri 420 which is my grandfather’s film and the Italian Life is Beautiful. ”
