Ten years after his debut, and 14 films later, Ranbir Kapoor will be the first to tell you, “I’m not as successful as I was a few years ago. Sometimes when you’re doing well, you just expect the sun to keep on shining on you, but it doesn’t.” Here’s an excerpt from the cover story of GQ India’s June 2018 issue where he chats about being detached from the world, his link-up with Alia Bhatt and the Kapoor legacy.
You have often said you can be pretty detached. Is solitude underrated?
At some point, it begins to seem selfish. Often, I’m in my own little cocoon, and there’s a lot of making up to do. As I grow older, I realise that life is not really what happens on a movie set. The truth is that people forget you, even if you’ve done 30 years of amazing work, and you’ve left a legacy behind. When you’re 70 or 75, you’re not going to have that fame and adulation. People aren’t going to want to take selfies with you, and after it’s all done, who’s it going to be? It’s going to be you alone in a chair with an oxygen tank, wondering where everyone went. I’m painting a drastic picture right now, as a warning to myself that this could be me, and I don’t want to be that person. I want to have healthy grandchildren, a companion, even at the age of 80.
Are you dating Alia (Bhatt)?
It’s really new right now, and I don’t want to over speak. It needs time to breathe and it needs space. As an actor, as a person, Alia is — what’s the right word — flowing right now. When I see her work, when I see her act, even in life, what she gives is something that I’m aspiring to for myself.
What’s the best thing about being newly in love?
It always comes with a lot of excitement. It’s a new person, it comes with new beats. Old tricks become new tricks again — you know, being charming and romantic, all of that. I think I’m more balanced today. I value relationships more. I can appreciate hurt and what it does to a person much more than I could a couple years back.
You are always on top of every trend. Where do you shop?
New York has an amazing sneaker store called Flight Club. I have a reseller — you know, those guys who buy shoes as soon as they’re out and then sell them later for a higher price — in London, who hooks me up with every kind of sneaker, because the ones I usually like are snapped up within seconds. It could take me a year to get them, and they are also ferociously expensive. Basically, I’m a shopping addict, so I’m shopping all the time. But I also don’t hoard stuff. So at any given time, I’ll only have 15 shirts, never 25-30, even though I’m buying new stuff all the time. I also have a bit of an OCD problem: If you look at my cupboard, everything’s neatly organised, the clothes are all colour-coordinated.
There was a fire at RK Studios last year. Was much lost?
Apart from the financial and emotional loss, there was a museum, which had all his (Raj Kapoor’s) old costumes. A lot of tourists, Russians especially, used to come to see his costumes from Mera Naam Joker, for one. So that’s a bummer, it’s quite f@#*^d up. It was sad for my grandmother especially. I went to the studio with her –— she was in a wheelchair and had tears in her eyes when she saw the damage. Perhaps this accident will spur my uncles and my father to think about doing more with the space.
Do you see yourself reviving the RK banner?
I find the word “revival” a bit pompous. RK Studios was what it was because of my grandfather — I don’t think I have the talent or the storytelling abilities to fly that particular flag. If I want to produce, I’ll definitely start something new, which I tried with Jagga Jasoos, with Anurag Basu. If I direct a movie, I’ll probably produce it, but not under the RK Studios banner.
