Ranbir Kapoor On His “Disaster” Films, India’s Struggling Box Office & His Desire To Direct — Red Sea Film Festival
08.12.2022 - 04:13
/ deadline.com
An unwieldy crowd rushed the stage and frequently broke out in song as Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor discussed his life and career during one of the final ‘In Conversation’ sessions at the Red Sea Film Festival Wednesday.
The packed crowd, which comprised local and international Bollywood superfans, commandeered the keynote session from festival organizers and began to hold their own prolonged event asking Kapoor personal questions, running up to take selfies, and offering him screenplays.
“It’s part of Indian culture,” Kapoor told Deadline later that evening at a party hosted by GQ. “The songs, the dances. They love the movies, especially the Asian subcontinent. So it’s always great to get that love.”
While the festival audience was jubilant, Kapoor struck a more reflective tone. Talking at length, he discussed the projects in his filmography that he believes are failures, either due to poor box office numbers or conflicting artistic results.
Discussing his 2022 action flick Shamshera, he said it was “by far the hardest film I’ve worked on. It was a big box office disaster, but the biggest mistake I made on Shamshera was that I stuck on a beard.”
Kapoor was referencing the prosthetic beard he wears during the film. Over rapturous laughs from the crowd, he continued: “When you’re shooting in the heat, and you stick on a beard, it’s like your face is melting.”
Kapoor continued to discuss his 2017 family drama Jagga Jasoos, which he described as “another disaster.”
“It’s a film that I produced. It was a passion project. It was directed by Anurag Basu. It was a very heartwarming and sweet idea, but it didn’t do well, which really hurt,” he said. “That’s the only film in my career that hurt me.”
Shamshera is among a slew of