Ranbir Kapoor, who is busy promoting his recently released film, Shamshera, followed by Brahmastra, in which he is cast opposite with his wife Alia Bhatt for the first time, recently opened up about his choice of films. The actor was recently in conversation with actress Suchitra Pillai on her B4U podcast, Hear it Here, during which he opened up about how the Kapoor legacy has always been a burden for him.
The actor spoke about how his late father, actor Rishi Kapoor, wasn’t in favour of him doing films like Wake Up Sid, Barfi and Rockstar. “When I started off, I always heard the words, family and legacy, and I always looked up to it as a responsibility. Fortunately for me, I had the good sense that if I had to succeed in this industry, I had to do it on my own terms and I had to be individualistic about it. So there was a lot of debate on the kind of films I was doing which came from my father,” says the actor. “What are you doing? If you want to be a mainstream actor, you cannot do films like Wake Up Sid, Barfi, or Rockstar and films like that,” (sic) Ranbir said.
Further, the Sanju actor revealed that despite his father’s apprehensions over his film choices, he decided to follow his heart. “It was very important for me to follow my heart and choose subjects that appeal to me so I could put myself in those characters,” admits the actor, adding that he never took the family legacy for granted.
“I am very proud of my legacy but it is not something that I have taken for granted. It is not something that I have ever thrown at people and I feel very responsible for it,” confesses the actor.
Ranbir also denied any parallels between his role in Shamshera and his personal choices. In Shamshera, Ranbir plays a tribal leader who fights for the rights of his community. Ranbir is seen playing a double role of a father and son who carries forward the legacy of his father. “Shamshera is very different from where I come from,” explains Ranbir about how different his role is from his real life.