ROCKET MAN : RANBIR KAPOOR

He does not look common enough to be Everyman Amol Palekar, but then he is not as hunky as Hrithik Roshan. He is not brooding enough to be a Bachchan and he does not have Salman Khan's bulging biceps either. Yet Ranbir Kapoor's raffish looks and boyish charm have helped him wrench out more space for himself in the league of extraordinary gentlemen of Bollywood...

Midway into the movie, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani(YJHD), there is a scene where Ranbir and Deepika set out to climb a haunted hill on a full moon night. There over a bottle of shared local brew, they strike a connection and he bares his heart: “Main udna chahta hoon. Main daudna chahta hoon. Girna bhi chahta hoon. Bas rukna nahi chahta (I want to fly. I want to run. I want to fail or fall too. What is don’t want is to stop.)”

That pretty much describes this man as Ranbir Kapoor’s box-office fortunes have been soaring, shattering quite a few records. 

• ·        Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani ( Rs 176 crore and counting) is already one of the top three grossing Hindi films across India, after 3 Idiots( Rs 202 crore) and Ek tha Tiger( Rs 198 crore).
• ·        YJHD took just seven days to reach the coveted 100 crore mark.
• ·        YJHD has become the first non-Khan film to enter the list of Top 10 Bollywood hits abroad.

YJHD, the biggest hit of 2013 yet, has added to Ranbir’s resume is: a solo blockbuster, both home and abroad.

RK-the new ‘Superman’ of Indian Cinema, is young, energetic and has cool looks which makes him popular across age brackets.

For Rishi Kapoor’s son( and Raj Kapoor’s grandson), the khandan casts a rather long shadow. But the 30 year old does not seem weighed down by lineage; he even referenced uncle Shammi’s song, ”Yeh Chand Sa Roshan Chehra” in Rockstar. In his TV interviews, Ranbir has often displayed un-star like candor. For instance, the actor has admitted to experimenting with drugs during his New York days. “I have tried it…but I am not endorsing it. It is important for me to be honest”, he told a news channel sometime back.

He typifies the new cool among the young: effortless, carefree and intelligent. People find it easy to relate to him. He is a representative and keeper of Kapoor legacy. So he is old reinvented as new and new reinventing itself further. He is the only actor with intelligence and mystique. Members of the Kapoor clan believe that Ranbir’s success lies in the fact that he is such an original. He is not “like” anyone else in the family and is the finest actor in the Kapoor clan. Being grounded is the quality his parents give him full marks for. His mother Neetu calls him a “film-encyclopedia”. She says that her son takes success in his stride.

Much like Mount Everest these days, Bollywood box-office summit is a crowded place. Apart from the three Khans, Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh, Hrithik Roshan too is back in the reckoning after two consecutive winners, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Agneepath. And there is no evidence that any of the four is vacating space. But clearly in the past two years, Ranbir has wrenched out more space for himself in the league of extraordinary gentlemen. As for actors from his own generation, nobody even comes close to Ranbir. That he shares great onscreen chemistry with most female co-stars-Katrina Kaif( Ajab Prem…), Priyanka Chopra( Anjaana Anjaani), Ileana D’ Cruz(Barfi!) or Deepika Padukone(YJHD)-and has shown a knack of sensitive romantic scenes, has only helped his cause.

The actor has done it on his terms. YJHD director Ayan Mukerji says that Ranbir follows his instinct while choosing scripts. Mukerji says that he was very anxious when he went to Ranbir’s house with the script of his film Wake Up Sid (2009). The actor heard him narrate the story for two and a half hours without uttering a word. At the end of it, he just said, “I love it and I will do it”. He is really unafraid to be who he wants to be.

He has been far more experimental than any major star at such an early age of his career. That includes stripping rather strategically in his debut film, Saawariya (2007), playing a sardar ( Rocket Singh) or a deaf-mute (Barfi!). With Barfi!, he has already shown that no role is too difficult for him and no project too risky. He basically opts for the “alternative within mainstream”.

Ranbir is not without flaws. Critics say there is a similarity in the way he plays most of his characters. There is no pronounced difference in the way he interprets the commitment-phobic philander in Bachna Ae Haseeno, the slacker in Wake Up Sid, the ethical salesman in Rocket Singh and the individualist in YJHD-all boys who end up as men by the last reel; the trajectory of their transformation being the film’s narrative and emotional core. In Rockstar too, while he brings out the rage and angst of JJ, another boy-man, his Haryanvi accent keeps slipping like his towel. But he generally manages to be better than the movie he acts in. Irrespective of the director, he brings something to the table which is his very own.

He is more an instinctive actor than someone who prepares in detail for a role.

Ranbir Kapoor, salesman of the year! The actor is currently the ambassador for eight leading global companies including Lenovo, Panasonic, Hero Moto Corp, Blackberry and PepsiCo among others. With every new film- and Ranbir is constantly reinventing himself in his films-his brand image is growing. This is attracting diversified brands. Brands for all age groups and consumers want him.

When it comes to the choice of roles, Ranbir says that he has always gone with his heart. He does not have a preconceived notion. If he likes the script, the character and the director’s vibes-he says yes! In an interview he said that Acting is his “only calling” and his reason to get out of bed in the morning-otherwise he would be happy to sleep in till 6 pm. But he works hard for his success. His grandmother-Krishna Raj Kapoor, after watching his film Rockstar, gifted him their family heirloom-an ancestral gold coin that her father-in-law Prithviraj Kapoor had won at a drama competition in Peshawar in British India. She believes that Ranbir would indeed take the family name forward.

There is always something nuanced about his performance. The raffish charm and showboating dance moves in YJHD, the protagonist Bunny(played by Ranbir) has several shades of grey. He hates his step-mother, forgets about his best friends when he gets a job of his dreams, spurns true love and even misses his father’s funeral. That by the end of the movie, he manages to make Bunny one of us, or at least something many of us imagine ourselves to be, is a compliment to Ranbir!