Introduction

Winner of five Filmfare awards and several nominations to his credit, Ranbir Kapoor is one of today’s highest paid actors with those cute lover boy looks. CNN-IBN’s Rajeev Masand describes him as having that star quality that is rare to find. Besides his acting, Ranbir is the co-founder of Indian Super League football team, Mumbai City FC.

Early Life

Sharing the same birthday as Lata Mangeshkar and Yash Chopra, Ranbir, was christened by his grand uncle Shammi Kapoor. Ranbir’s parents affectionately call him Baba. Ranbir did his pre university from HR College of Commerce and Economics and moved to New York City to learn filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts. He then pursued method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Here, he directed and starred in two movies called Passion to Love, and India 1964. He returned to India and worked as Assistant Director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali, working on the sets of the movie Black (2005). Ranbir said the main reason for working on Black was to ensure that he would make it to becoming an actor in Bhansali’s next projects.

Entry to Bollywood

Sure enough, Bhansali cast Ranbir in his 2007 tragic romance film Saawariya opposite Sonam Kapoor and Rani Mukherji. This was the first Hindi movie to be produced by Hollywood Studio (Sony Pictures Entertainment). Although the film bombed at the box office, Ranbir managed to win the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award and his critics were impressed by his affable charm. Soon, Yash Raj Films contacted him for a lead role in the 2008 film Bachna Ae Haseeno. Ranbir successfully played his role of womanizer involved with Bipasha Basu, Minissha Lamba and Deepika Padukone. The movie was a commercial success and the New York Times predicted his ‘puppy dog sweetness’ would serve him well as a leading man in Bollywood.

Next up came his film Wake Up Sid in 2009 wherein he played a rich, lazy teenager in a romantic relationship with a elder and ambitious journalist (Konkona Sen Sharma). When director Ayan Mukerji explained the script to Ranbir, Ranbir came up with the name for the film. The movie was a Sleeper hit, and critics acclaimed Ranbir’s performance saying he was amongst the best in business today.

Up next came Ranbir’s slapstick comedy Ajab Prem Ki Gazaab Kahani in 2009, where he starred opposite Katrina Kaif. The movie emerged as Bollywood’s fourth largest grosser of the year. His next film in the same year Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year was a commercial failure.

The year 2010 saw the release of the film Rajneeti, which starred a host of actors like Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee along with Katrina Kaif and Sarah Thompson. This marked a departure from Ranbir’s usual lover boy roles and had his stony, rather than calculative looks applauded by critics. The film grossed over $24 million worldwide. His next film of the year, Anjaana Anjaani, proved to be a flop.

The year 2011 saw Ranbir take on the role of musician Janardhan “Jordan” Jakhar in the movie Rockstar. He prepared very hard for the film by studying Jat mannerisms and playing the guitar and even performing at a concert in Mumbai. He went on to win Filmfare Best Actor and Best Actor (critics) Award for his role, while also winning an IIFA and a Screen Best Actor Awards. The film was the top grosser of the year. In 2012, critics hailed his Chaplin like role in tone and effect in the romantic comedy Barfi, which was a big hit. The film was submitted as India’s entry for the 85th Academy Awards, and was also screened at the Marrakech and Busan International Film Festivals. Ranbir once again won Best Actor Awards at the Filmfare, Screen and IIFA award ceremonies for his performance in the film.

Next was his role as a photographer in the movie Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani in 2013. The film starred Deepika Padukone, Kalki Kochelin and Aditya Roy Kapoor. The movie was a record breaker and one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of all time, raking in $50 million. Critics lauded this film and called it unsurpassable. His second release in 2013 was the film Besharam wherein he played a petty thief. The film was a big flop and the newspaper The Hindu described it as Kapoor’s Hall of shame.

Ranbir’s upcoming projects include Bombay Velvet wherein he plays a street fighter and is set for release in 2015. His other films are a comedy mystery called Jagga Jasoos, a romance drama called Tamasha and a romantic thriller named Roy. He is also working on an untitled fantasy film about a man with superpowers with director Ayan Mukerji.

Awards

• Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for Saawariya (2008)

• Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for Wake up Sid (2010)

• Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Rockstar (2012)

• Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for Rockstar (2012)

• Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Barfi (2013)