Ranbir Kapoor is indisputably one of the finest thespians to grace the theater halls of Hindi cinema.
When Ranbir Kapoor plays a role, he doesn’t just act it out, he fully immerses himself in his characters, who all drastically differ from one another, offering us a level of conviction the likes of which we seldom see from other actors.
Today marks the actor’s 37th birthday and as a tribute to him, I decided to write about five of his best films.
- Rockstar (2011)
With its wholehearted embrace of wanderlust and the morbid beauty of romantic fatalism, Rockstar won many a heart and is now widely regarded as a Bollywood cult classic. Ranbir Kapoor’s deeply moving performance of a wayward rockstar going through an existential crisis resonated with many young Indian boys especially who were also going through that same difficult phase in their lives.
- Barfi (2012)
A phantasmagoric ode to early Technicolor film and the work of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin with performances by Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra that transcended the confines of masala film. It’s no wonder that Barfi was India’s submission to the 85th Academy Awards.
- Wake Up Sid (2009)
A teenage fever dream of a film that even indie darling, Konkona Sen Sharma, couldn’t resist being a part of; the coming-of-age comedy introduced India to two burgeoning talents – Ranbir Kapoor and filmmaker, Ayan Mukherji, who later went on to direct Kapoor in the much glossier but still excellent and millennial-relatable, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.
- Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (2009)
In the ten minutes I was with Kapoor, I asked him a question I’ve always wanted to ask him – “when are you going to make another Rocket Singh?” He shrugged his shoulders and answered, in a very solemn tone, “When India is ready for it.” Rocket Singh was not by a box hit by any stretch but it’s regarded by many to be one of Ranbir Kapoor’s finest films for its veritable depiction of the erosive qualities of corruption in India and how it can fester in even the most innocent of men.
- Sanju (2018)
Rajkumar Hirani, India’s most celebrated living filmmaker, takes on the Herculean task of compressing Bollywood legend, Sanjay Dutt’s thirty-year journey to redemption and turning it into pure masala escapism. While Kapoor anchors the film’s pandemonium with a performance of the fallen star that’s so nuanced and exceptional, we’ll be discussing it for years to come.
