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Ranbir Kapoor, in blue denims, white tee and pale blue jacket, breezes in, says easy hellos, spies the Badtameez dil cake (courtesy Kookie Jar) and goes: “Oh, this is awesome, ya! I just love the tie!” (The one that the Ranbir on the cake is wearing.) “Let me click a picture of this, man! I love it! Thank you so much!” [Cuts the cake, taking care to avoid cutting “himself” on it.]
When urged to jive to the song of the moment, he declines with: “Arre, kya jig karoon yaar? My back is gone from dancing to this song everywhere. It’s coming out of my ears now.”
He then walks over to the end of the table and helps himself to a lemon tart (also from Kookie Jar). “You guys have a lovely office, yaar. The building is so nice. You are lucky to have such a nice office… seems like a warm kind of place.”
Priyanka Roy: We can’t believe you are sick of Badtameez dil considering the whole country can’t have enough of it!
Ranbir: Arre, but I have been listening to it for the last one-and-a-half-years, ya! And wherever I go, I have to hear it. Even my hip has started hurting now because I am made to dance to it wherever I go. But, we got lucky with the song…. Pritam dada (music director) is on a great wicket.
Pratim D. Gupta: Have you heard the Bengali words in the song which go Aloo bhaat, muri bhaat…
Ranbir: (Smiles) Yes, yes! Amitabh (Bhattacharya) has written the lyrics, right?
Saionee Chakraborty: You are channelling your granduncle Shammi Kapoor in the song…
Ranbir: Shammi Kapoor wasn’t ever a great dancer… but he used to dance to express. I, also, don’t consider myself a great dancer because my legs are too long and his legs were also quite long and a little bent inwards. So, yes there’s a similarity there.
Priyanka: How would you sell Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani to us?
Ranbir: It’s the hardest thing in the world! The philosophy of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is that happiness is real only when it’s shared. When we finish school, college we have so many ambitions, desires, but we tend to forget the people around us… we take them for granted.... It’s basically the homecoming of this boy I play called Bunny. It’s his journey and how he goes along trying to achieve things in life but in the interim he forgets all those around him. It’s a film about love, friendship… it’s a film about parents. It’s a very warm story. That’s what the film is… I don’t know whether it’s enough to sell the film (smiles). I hope people come to watch the film because Ayan (Mukerji) is a wonderful filmmaker. I did Wake Up Sid with him and I have a firm belief that he is one day going to be one of the finest filmmakers in Indian cinema.
Pratim: Was it a given that you had to be in whatever he made after Wake Up Sid?
Ranbir: I would have hit him if he hadn’t offered the film to me! (Laughs) It was taken for granted because we are great friends and have a wonderful working relationship. Not many people watched Wake Up Sid, but the intention with Yeh Jawaani… was to make a film with the same language, but make it broader. So we have some popular songs, we have a popular love story…. Wake Up Sid was uni-dimensional, in this film, we are trying to tap a lot more things. He wrote the idea and came to me with it. I didn’t quite understand it then because it was so vague…. We shot the climax just a month ago.
Pratim: Do you read scripts at all these days or have you decided that you will only work with Anurag Basu, Imtiaz Ali, Ayan Mukerji…?
Ranbir: After I have worked with them, I have immense belief in the kind of filmmakers they are because I know they make films because they have a story to tell. When Imtiaz gave me the script of Rockstar, I loved it. When Anurag dada (Basu) narrated the idea of Barfi!, I liked it…. I believe that wherever I am today as an actor, whatever my stardom is, it’s because of these filmmakers. I come from that school of thought that a film is a director’s and a writer’s medium while we actors are the vessels. I don’t take that for granted. I am very much aware of it… I’m also going to be working with Anurag Kashyap (in Bombay Velvet)…
Priyanka: For which you will be shooting in Calcutta later this year?
Ranbir: Yes! It’s a period film. It will be interesting to come back to Calcutta and shoot here again.
Samhita Chakraborty: So much of interest in Yeh Jawaani... is around the fact that you are working with ex-girlfriend Deepika Padukone. Does that bug you?
Ranbir: Of course it does bug me because we have worked so hard on this film and it doesn’t feel right that people are asking us questions about working together again. I understand that there is curiosity because we were in a relationship, but with the two of us it’s very chilled-out. Our first films (Saawariya and Om Shanti Om) released on the same day, we did our second film (Bachna Ae Haseeno) together and finally, I am getting a chance to work with her again. It was lovely to work with her and there was no awkwardness at all. We were a strong unit… me, Deepika, Ayan, Aditya Roy Kapoor… we were like friends hanging out. Deepika has moved on, I have moved on. There’s been good closure to our relationship. I think that’s important.
Abhinanda Datta (English honours, Jadavpur University): I have a huge crush on you! Who did you have a crush on, growing up?
Ranbir: (Without batting an eyelid) Madhuri Dixit! I have always had a crush on her and this time I got an opportunity to work with her (in the Ghagra song from Yeh Jawaani…). Raveena Tandon also a little bit, but more Madhuri Dixit (laughs).
Saionee: You even got to kiss her in the song!
Ranbir: Yes! That was my idea. My friend is the director, obviously I had to take advantage (smiles). I told him: ‘Arre yaar, pata nahin kabhi kaam karne ko mile na’… I took four retakes!
Pratim: You first met her on the sets of Prem Granth (starring Rishi Kapoor and Madhuri)?
Ranbir: Yes! I actually gave the clap on the board for that film. I’ve seen her since then and I remember going along with my dad to Switzerland for a film he was shooting with her called Yaarana. I used to see her from far… how she used to take care of her parents. She’s very simple, very admirable.
Saionee: Any favourite Madhuri film?
Ranbir: Sailaab. That song (Humko aajkal)! Whatever she does, she’s done it so well… Ram Lakhan, Khal Nayak, Raja, Tezaab. I think she was phenomenal in Devdas. Now I am looking forward to Gulab Gang.
Pramita Ghosh: Who has been your favourite co-star?
Ranbir: I would say Deepika because I was pleasantly surprised by her professionalism and how talented she is. I can truly say that she was the first co-star by whom I was intimidated. She’s surprising me constantly as an actor.
Pramita: How badtameez was Ranbir while growing up?
Ranbir: While in Hindi class in school, I would sit near the door and crawl out of class. While I was doing that one day, the principal caught me and took hold of my ear and I still remember the feel of that slap that came down on my cheek (smiles). I got a series of slaps, but to be honest, only the first slap hurt because after that my cheek became numb.
Saionee: What does Ranbir’s badtameez dil want, ‘Oh yes abhi’ (the Pepsi punchline)?
Ranbir: I want to fall in love. I want to travel with my friends in India and around the world. I want to live in New York for sometime. I want to live a real, normal life. We actors tend to become so selfish about our lives and careers and get lost in the image that people build around us that it’s very important sometimes to get a reality check of what life actually is. And not just live with that image that’s been created.
Priyanka: But that’s the image you have… of someone who falls in love all the time!
Ranbir: (Laughs) I am falsely accused of that! Now it’s like double jeopardy. If I do it, it’s already been written about!
Pratim: You have said that you want to direct a film some day…
Ranbir: That’s something I may have said immaturely (smiles). But you know, after I have worked with such great filmmakers like Dada (Anurag Basu), Imtiaz and Ayan, I have realised that it’s not easy. It’s a big sacrifice and I am very happy with the kind of offers I am getting now and the directors I am working with and I don’t want to lose out on that. Maybe, when I get a stronger hold as an actor, I will think about it because I strongly believe that to make a film, you have to tell a story from within. You can’t make a film for the sake of making one.
Saionee: So, you weren’t nervous at all?
Ranbir: No, no… I am a very arrogant actor. So, I don’t get intimidated by many people. I had thought that I would be intimidated by my father, but he is very easy. Sometimes he says his dialogues in a way that he is rehearsing… sometimes, I used to look at him… should I say my dialogues now?
Priyanka: What is the best thing your parents have told you after seeing a film of yours?
Ranbir: My mom is my biggest fan. Whatever I do, she just loves. At the same time, my father doesn’t compliment me much. Maybe he tells other people, but which is great. It is a motivation. He is such a talented actor and I admire him so much. So, kind words from him would be great.
Kushali Nag: Is there a question you really want people to ask you?
Ranbir: How am I doing?
Team t2 (chorus): How are you doing?
Ranbir: I am tired! These promotions, na! You just keep talking about yourself, your film. Sometimes you start making up answers that are so wrong! I did some 30 interviews back to back in London and the fourth person asked me the same question and I started giving the same answer that I had given for Rocket Singh or something! So, I really want this promotion for 20 days to change. It is too much. I think there is so much of over-exposure. I think we are all insecure… if we don’t promote the film, people will not come and see our movie. There is so much money now being spent on movies. And the opening of a film makes so much of a difference. It is 10 times harder than acting in movies... promoting it.
Saionee: Your film is making everybody dance. What’s your favourite dance track from the film?
Ranbir: My favourite song is Ilahi. It is a lovely song, but if you have to choose a dance track… it’s Balam pichkari. It’s a very cool song. We had lots of fun. I didn’t play Holi for the last five years, it really felt like Holi. We had bhang. You would have probably seen some shots and thought ‘what is he doing’?
Saionee: And any particular look from the film that you love?
Ranbir: Look, in a real-life character, somewhere there is a relatability of your life, you put a lot of your personality in it. I am still playing a young boy who is consumed by the desire for a brighter future. But he still has to relate to people. He has to relate to me as a person. So, I like the Badtameez suit. The suit and tie was really cool.
Saionee: And that cool step?
Ranbir: I was pakaoed doing that step. I was doing it in my sleep also!
[Digs into a lemon tart]
Please join me as I feel very awkward eating alone.
Saionee: What is it that you love eating the most?
Ranbir: Bhurji-paratha and mishti doi. I have been eating mishti doi for the last five years, from Oh! Calcutta.
Priyanka: Don’t you watch your diet sometimes?
Ranbir: No, I don’t! Thankfully, the genes I have got are my mother’s.
Samhita: And then you wonder why your dad doesn’t like everything you do!
Ranbir: I don’t drink. He loves his alcohol and food. Today for lunch, I had mustard fish, mutton, the mango pickle, some aam juice, three cups of mishti doi, smoked hilsa and also postor bora. Actually, Jaya Bachchan sends Bengali food to my house very often. The mustard fish… my dad’s very fond of it. I am a big fan of it. Mishti doi is my favourite. And the brown rasgullas. And there is another thing, which is like a dry laddoo with a liquid inside.
