MUMBAI: Ranbir Kapoor, the youngest star of the Kapoor clan has a legacy of great actors behind him. But the actor chose to prove his mettle not by relying on the RK Banner, but choosing and making his own path of success. With 13 films in a span of six years and almost a 90 percent success rate of his films, and with two back-to-back films ‘Barfi’ and ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ entering the 100 crore club, Ranbir Kapoor is all set to de-throne the biggest superstars, the mighty Khans.
With 5 films – beginning with ‘Besharam’ which will feature him with dad Rishi Kapoor for the first time, ‘Bombay Velvet’ – a lavish, extravagant story set in 1960 where Ranbir Kapoor essays the role of a street-fighter, ‘Jagga Jasoos’ – Ranbir’s second outing with Anurag Basu post ‘Barfi’, ‘Roy’ – directed by newcomer Vikram Singh where he plays a brooding thief in James Bond style and finally a Karan Johar period film set in Lahore, set during the partition, Ranbir Kapoor’s schedule is all booked till the end of 2014. Rather overbooked, we say.
What is even more significant is that all these films are being produced by the biggest of the biggest banners, which include the likes of Fox Star Studios (Bombay Velvet) and Dharma Productions (Karan Johar’s untitled film) and each have huge budgets ranging to nothing less than Rs 60 crore minimum (estimated). Taking the example of Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Bombay Velvet’, the film being set in the 1960’s requires the city of Bombay to resemble the era. The set for the same is being re-created in Sri Lanka, which certainly implies that the film’s budget is accommodating enough.
Where the mighty Khans, have practically a film or none slated for release, and a film or two slated to go on floors, Ranbir Kapoor has his bags full till the end of 2014, and he continues to sign more films. Salman Khan, probably is the only star to have his plate full with ‘Mental’, ‘Kick’ and Sooraj Barjatya’s next.
Shah Rukh Khan has ‘Chennai Express’ and ‘Happy New Year’, Aamir Khan has ‘Dhoom-3’ and Raju Hirani’s ‘PK’. Saif Ali Khan has ‘Bullet Raja’ and ‘Humshakal’.
So while there was a time when audiences queued up to watch the Khans in action, the focus seems to clearly shifted to Ranbir Kapoor and his counterparts, who unlike him have a minimal of two-three films lined up in the next two years.
Also what is noteworthy about Ranbir Kapoor and his fast surging career is that he won back-to-back awards for his work in ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Barfi’ making him a HIT amongst both the masses and classes. His latest film ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ has within a week of its release, entered the prestigious 100 crore club. It has overpowered Salman Khan’s ‘Dabangg’ franchisee’s record and has achieved the feat in just 7 days.
His ‘Saawariya’ might have been a disastrous debut, but that has not dimmed the spirits of the actor who has never shied away from playing diverse characters. And here with 5 films in his plate, a brand self-created, he is all set to de-throne the biggies, the mighty Khans, who tasted sweet success for many years, until now. Ranbir Kapoor, undoubtedly is set to be the next blue-eyed boy of Bollywood.
