BENGALURU: All the ladies in the audience wanted to click a picture with him, while many boys who were going to the Martin Garrix concert wanted confirmation if they were going to see him there. To all those requests, actor Ranbir Kapoor patiently obliged. He also made a special appearance on stage on the second day of the Dutch DJ’s Bengaluru tour.
In the city for the launch of Cinepolis’s first luxury format multiplex, which has its new 11 Screen cinema, Kapoor says he’s all for opening cinemas post the pandemic. “The exhibition sector was really hit hard but a lot of cinemas closed down, but slowly new cinemas are opening. As an actor, I am ready to do anything towards that,” says Kapoor. While he visited the city mostly on work, he mentions he is quite impressed with Sandalwood. “The Kannada film industry is doing such amazing stuff, especially recently with films like Kantara and KGF,” he adds.
With his latest movie, Tu Jhoothi Mein Makkar up for release, Kapoor is busy with its promotions. A rom-com, he feels it is a difficult genre to impress audiences with. “I have done quite a few from that genre, some have been good and some not so good. Worldwide, I feel it’s a dying genre. Because people are not going to cinemas to watch rom-coms, they prefer larger-than-life action extravaganza films. So to pull the audience to theatres you need good pairing, music and a plot,” he says, adding he enjoys doing biopics. In fact, he is working in the biopic of legendary singer Kishore Kumar, directed by Anurag Basu, and will also be doing one on cricketer Sourav Ganguly.
This year, Indian movies are seen making quite a bit of noise on global platforms. Cheering for RRR, which is nominated for this year’s Oscars, taking place on March 12, Kapoor says it’s quite endearing when Indian movies do well overseas. “I would rather work in an Indian film and take it overseas. Make a film of your own, carry it with your own country and culture and show it off to the world.
That is what RRR is doing, that’s what Lagaan did in 2002 at the Oscars. It’s been a long time since an Indian film has gone to the Oscars. We should push the boundaries and try to take cinema to the world,” says Kapoor, whose wife Alia Bhatt will be making her Hollywood debut with Heart of Stone, which stars Gal Gadot in lead role.
Apart from doing movies, Kapoor who has recently stepped into parenthood is living every moment of this new phase. “It’s been three and half months. I haven’t found it exhausting yet. There is a lot of excitement and love. We have gone through sleepless nights but that is worth it. Alia is shooting in Kashmir (for Rocky Aur Rani ki Prem Kahani) and has taken Raha along with her. I miss them so much,” says Kapoor.