Ranbir Kapoor, on being a Kapoor

Anna M.M Vetticad, Express Service
June 6, 2011

They’re the first family of Hindi filmdom. For more than 80 years now, the Kapoors have boasted of at least one major star in every generation. Prithviraj Kapoor’s great-granddaughter Kareena and her cousin Ranbir are keeping the Kapoor pennant flying high these days. But the old order has not moved on either: Rishi and Neetu’s film ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ was recently picked as 2010’s National Award winner in the Best Hindi Film category.
In the middle of an overseas vacation, Ranbir Kapoor spoke to Consulting Editor Anna M.M. Vetticad about his parents’ success, Kareena’s talent and why he’d be “shy and a little jealous” of his wife acting in films:

Is there any way of convincing your mother to do more films now?

Mom just did ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ to be busy because my sister is married and I’m an actor, so she wasn’t doing much at home. Plus it gave her time to spend with my Dad. I’m definitely trying to encourage her to pursue a second career. But I don’t think she’s interested. She was an actor when she was really young and at that time she didn’t understand what acting was. She was also the provider for her family before marriage.
When she got married I guess she got busy with us. So it’s not that she’s missing acting. But if something good comes around, I think she’ll be interested in working with my father or with me, not with anybody else. So we hold that honourable position of exclusively getting to work with her. So I think a film that demands a talent like her, a film that I do or my father does, that’s when you’ll see her next.

You had mentioned in an interview once that there were offers for you and your father to act together, but many of them seemed like gimmicks where the purpose seemed to be just to cast Rishi and Ranbir together. Anything interesting that has come up since then?

Such offers keep coming but we are different individuals, we have our own tastes. I would do a film if I like the character offered to me. I don’t think my father will do it just because I’m in it. He also has to have a substantial role that lives up to his stature as an actor. There’s nothing as of now which has excited both of us together.

After ‘Do Dooni Chaar’, have producers approached you with roles for you and both your parents in one film?

Long back somebody had come up with a project where they wanted the entire family but there was no story or anything, it was just a project. Things like this keep coming but we’ve not read anything that the three of us can have a good time and be creatively satisfied by doing.

Beyond the obvious answers about looks, charisma, lineage and talent, what is it about the Kapoor family that since 1928, each generation has produced at least one major star?

I’m not a big believer in lineage. I don’t think a surgeon’s son will be a good surgeon, but I do believe my entire family is passionate about movies. We are born into this because of my father and his forefathers. We eat, breathe and sleep movies. This is what we love, and we try and work hard at it. I don’t think there is a formula, a necessity that every person in my family be an actor or do something relating to films. There’s just something that draws us to it. Of course it’s also the love of so many people who’ve liked my family’s work, a sense of belonging they feel that these people have been entertaining us for so long. So I guess blessings from all of them. It’s an amalgam of everything. It’s also got to do with individuality. You cannot remind the audience of somebody who has already been there, and try & mimic that person, or try and remind them of that person. I think every actor has to have an individual identity.

Abhishek Bachchan still doesn’t seem to have been able to shrug off the comparisons with Amitabh Bachchan. You have been acting for just three years and there is almost no comparison being made between you and your parents. Why is that?

I’m just fortunate my parents don’t really have a style. They were natural, spontaneous actors, and you can’t really compare spontaneity. Amitabh Bachchan is looming large in every actor’s mind, in every audience’s mind. Every mannerism, every nuance, everything is copied for so many years and when his son comes, people will directly make comparisons because he’s still the biggest superstar in our country. I would like to say it was harder for Abhishek Bachchan to carve a niche for himself. For me it was relatively easier because like I said, my parents were spontaneous actors.

Are you a fan of your parents’ work?

Absolutely! Before I started acting, I studied acting. I studied every Raj Kapoor film, Shashi Kapoor film, Shammi Kapoor film, Shammi Kapoor’s first wife Geeta Bali’s films. I was a bit shy about my mother being an actress while I was growing up, because I didn’t really like to see her wear very short clothes and romance, but I’ve been a big fan of my father. I’d say he’s my favourite actor, the kind of passion, the kind of songs, his dialogue delivery, the way he romances, I was just enamoured by everything.

When you say you were a bit shy about your mother being an actress, I assume you were just being a little boy. Now that you’ve grown up, would you say you wouldn’t want your wife, sisters or mother to act, wear short dresses etc?

Well, I think slightly. I would never ever impose my views. If my wife is an actress and she wants to pursue her career, she’s more than welcome. But it’s really hard, being actors and living in that surreal world and not getting time to spend with each other, romancing other men on screen. It gets a little tricky and I don’t think I’m reformed enough to accept that right now. So as of now, yes I’ll be a little shy and a little jealous about it.

You’d be jealous if your wife acted?

Yes, I think so.

That’s an honest admission, but would it be unfair for me to say you are being an MCP?

I don’t know. It’s just how I feel. This is just the way I am. This is just the way a lot of men in our country would think. I guess we’ve been brought up with different values, different notions about how our wives and mothers should be. And it’s really hard because of the reigning scenario. But it doesn’t matter what people think. This is what I think.

Raj Kapoor passed away when you were 6 years old. What are your memories of him?

He was really, really possessive and loved me a lot because I was his first grandson. Whenever my mother used to shout at me, I’d call him up and he would fire my mom. Me, Riddhima, Karisma and Kareena used to go hang out with him. He used to call us to his room, he would ask us to do salaam and give him a kiss on his cheek, and he would give us these yum caramel toffees which he used to buy from abroad. I used to really cherish going to his room and getting that toffee. Once when I was 4 or 5, he was on a short trip to Russia, and I called him and said I wanted a suit. He was never a shopper; he was more of a person who liked to see culture and the city. But I remember he bought me two bags full of suits.

What’s your favourite Raj Kapoor film?

There are two. ‘Shree 420’ and ‘Jaagte Raho’. Everything about these films is timeless. You can keep remaking his films every decade and I’m sure the audience will connect with them as much as they did when the films were first released.

What do you think of your cousin Kareena as an actress?

I’m a big fan of Kareena. She’s one of those blessed actresses who don’t have to do much. It’s just her face and her persona. She’s a natural. Yes she’s done some bad movies, some in which she was lazy but if you see her in ‘Jab We Met’, ‘Chameli’ or even ‘3 Idiots’, she’s phenomenal. I’m proud of what she’s achieved. Also, Karisma who made it on her own. She really worked hard on her movies, her dancing, the way she looked and transformed herself. Both these girls have made the family proud.

Do you also feel shy about your girl-cousins being in films?

Honestly, growing up we weren’t really that close. So there was a sense of detachment. I never felt that they’re my cousins working in films. When I went to see their movies I saw it like an audience, like a fan and I really enjoyed what I saw. I was possessive only about my mother.

What is your take on Prithviraj Kapoor’s work?

There’s a certain style to him – his personality, his voice and the way he used his body. The film industry right now has dissolved into more spontaneous acting. It’s more real, but at that time I think he was a pioneer of those larger-than-life roles. But honestly, even where my grandfather Raj Kapoor is concerned, I’m a bigger fan of him as a director than as an actor.

Your father is having a wonderful second innings as an actor?

Dad is phenomenal. It’s not luck or timing – if you’re really talented you will never die as an actor. If you’re a good actor, if you work hard, if you don’t take it for granted, and these are exactly the things my father is, not just as an actor but even as a human being. He’s honest and passionate about whatever he does. Whether it’s his food, his dogs, his drinking, anything, he just does it passionately and whole heartedly. I guess that’s the formula for his success. And it’s not a second innings. He never really retired since he began acting in movies with ‘Mera Naam Joker’ and after that as leading man in 1973. I don’t see him retiring for the next 20 years either. I’m calling it a second innings because there was a downswing in the 1990s…
In every actor’s graph there comes a time when from a leading man you have to get to character roles. That’s hard. Some actors don’t accept it. But my father did it gracefully. I still remember he was being offered lead roles in the early 1990s, but he saw himself on screen and then he saw the three Khans and the other new actors on screen, and he realised himself that it’s time to hang up his boots for a while and come back as a character actor. But he didn’t take a sabbatical. He took two years to direct ‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’, then started working as an actor immediately. He never took a break.

Where do you see yourself 20 years from now? You had mentioned to me once that you want to direct films. Will you revive the RK Banner?

I hope so. It is a bit of an immature dream right now to direct a movie. I haven’t done anything about it. But 20 years from now, definitely I would like to have an identity of my own. If there was a Prithviraj Kapoor and a Raj Kapoor and a Rishi Kapoor, I hope people remember me for my work, as an individual and not for being somebody’s son or grandson or great-grandson. I want to be respected for my work. I don’t have a plan. I don’t know when I’ll start directing, when I’ll stop acting, I just hope I’m connected to movies all my life.

Is it a goal though to revive the RK banner?

Well, it’s not a goal. I’ve been born into this and it’s a top-most priority. I don’t really believe in the word revival. All we have to do is start a movie. It could be any film. Maybe I could produce even the next film I sign, but it’s just about doing it the right way because there are sentimental values I have for my banner. Hopefully I will revive it with a film that I direct. It’s too much of an immature dream right now. It’s not something that I want to do as a commercial venture, but I think somewhere to restore the glory, to produce good movies, entertain the audience, and just be the RK Films that all these years RK Films has been.

Ranbir Kapoor, on being a Kapoor, 4.9 out of 5 based on 26 ratings