BEING SANJU
Ranbir Kapoor on what it took to play Bollywood’s bad boy, a hero of his childhood, and a living character you could not take liberties with
Ranbir Kapoor was only 10 years old when he saw his first reel icon, Sanjay Dutt, in real life. Accompanying his father, Rishi Kapoor, to the shoot of Sahibaan in Kashmir in 1992, the young Kapoor was mesmerised by the sight of the actor whose poster he had on his cupboard to rival that of his sister’s favourite, Salman Khan. “He had the Saajan look,” recalls Kapoor, “long hair, an earring. He was chilling between shots, smoking a cigarette and walking with style.” The young Ranbir thought Dutt was “super cool”, way cooler than his own dad.
With such a fond memory, one would think that Kapoor would be eager to play his idol on the big screen. Instead, he admits, there was reluctance and self-doubt. “The responsibility to play a person who is still relevant was very daunting,” says Kapoor, 35, who will later feature alongside Dutt in the period action Shamshera which begins shooting in December. “If it’s a dead or historical character, a few liberties can be taken.” The Rajkumar Hirani-Abhijat Joshi script was a selling point, presenting a leading man
with vices, weaknesses and selfinflicted adversities. “His life was a screenplay sent from heaven,” says Kapoor. “I don’t think I could be that honest to a filmmaker. It takes a lot of confidence to show that you have made mistakes.”
CHANNELLING SANJAY
Kapoor downplays the method he deployed to fit into Dutt’s shoes. The audience’s enthusiastic reaction to the film’s teaser and trailer reflects how well Kapoor channels Dutt. “You start taking yourself very seriously as an actor,” Kapoor says repeatedly during the course of a rainy afternoon in Mumbai, an hour of it devoted to the shoot for the india today cover. Kapoor’s talent is on display as he effortlessly switches from Sanju happy to Sanju sad. “I’m not pseudo-intellectualising the part. I understand the responsibilities and the pressures, and try to portray it in an honest way.”
Six months were devoted to prepare for the film with time spent watching Dutt’s video clips and films (Rocky, Naam, Khal Nayak, Vaastav, Munna Bhai MBBS, to name a few) and imbibe his demeanour, his gait, his voice and delivery of lines. Kapoor describes the process as “bringing alive the soul”. “I couldn’t overdo it because then it would be trying to mock him,” he adds. Kapoor’s performance never lapses into mimicry or caricature, says Hirani.
Sanju was shot in reverse. This meant that Ranbir had to put on 16 kilos to play the fiftysomething star. Make-up artist Vikram Gaikwad and Ajay Naik, prosthetics expert Clover Wootton and Aalim Hakim, who has been both Dutt’s and Kapoor’s go-to hairdresser, stepped in to get the changing hairdos in the six phases of his life on screen.
They may be separated by 22 years, but there are a few connections in the actors’ lives. Kapoor, too, comes from a film family. His grandfather Raj Kapoor acted opposite Dutt’s mother, Nargis, in at least 17 films. Ranbir may not have had 308 girlfriends as Sanju’s teaser boasts but he has had relationships with at least two of his co-stars that have kept gossip websites, tabloids and the paparazzi busy. Kapoor says he most connected with the chapter of Dutt’s foray into Hindi cinema. The father-son dynamic also struck a chord. “The Indian father-son psyche has conflict,” says Kapoor. “It is not an easy relationship. Here we see what a father goes through, the communication and generation gap and the father standing up for the son when the son should be the one doing so.” Paresh Rawal plays Sunil Dutt in the movie.
GUNNING FOR GLORY
If Sanjay Dutt is looking for a career renaissance post-prison, so is Ranbir Kapoor after a series of duds that ended with 2016’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Last year Kapoor added to his list of flops with Jagga Jasoos. His upcoming slate of films is proof that the actor is embarking on a different trajectory. “The realisation of what the audience wants has to be combined with what you want,” he says. “I want to reach out to all of India and want not just the South Bombay crowd to see my film.” Kapoor aims to now go beyond the man-child roles—the confused young man who experiences a reawakening with the entry of a love interest. But that’s not to suggest that he regrets the films he has done so far or that he is now compromising on his craft, he explains. He now eyes commercial
“I’M NOT PSEUDOINTELLECTUALISING THE PART, JUST TRYING TO PORTRAY HIM [SANJAY] IN AN HONEST WAY”
Hindi entertainers where pulling off a good performance is harder. It perhaps explains why the actor messaged Luv Ranjan, filmmaker of the sleeper hit Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, to ask if he had any film that they could collaborate on. It is the third film that Kapoor has signed post-Sanju.
Whether a wiser or smarter Ranbir emerges post-Sanju remains to be seen. But there are signs of a different Kapoor, one who admits that he is dating his Brahmastra co-star Alia Bhatt and makes a public appearance with her. “If I keep talking about it in every interview, then that becomes the headline,” he says. “I just want to give it dignity.”
Even as he embraces change, some things stay permanent. Such as his love for his two snoring Mastiffs, Guido and Leo, named after the leading man in the Italian film
Life is Beautiful, and FC Barcelona and Argentinian player Lionel Messi. He won’t jump on to the social media bandwagon. And he is still fond of isolation. “I’m still conscious when I’m in public,” he says. “I know it’s the antithesis of what I do, but it’s something I’m working on. It’s important but not that much because so far I have done okay.” That’s a modest assessment for an actor who has wowed audiences in films like Wake Up Sid!, Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, Rockstar, and Barfi!
But like Dutt, Kapoor too has made mistakes, even if far less damaging ones. However, in the acknowledgment of his failures—“It’s just a bend, not the end,” he said at a promotional event—appears an industry kid who doesn’t rest on his laurels. Kapoor’s own life may not be ripe for a biopic just yet but he still manages to be an enigma. That’s one attribute every hero needs.