Ranbir Kapoor’s Jagga Jasoos seems to be doing pretty well. Even if it might not have broken any records or even the 100 crore club, it does seem to be well received by the public.
However, considering the amount of time this movie took, almost 3 years, the expectations from Jagga Jasoos were much more than what we got given that the previous collaboration between director Anurag Basu and Ranbir Kapoor was the extremely well crafted Barfi.
Although even Barfi had its problem areas, but overall the movie was exceptional in terms of acting, plot, characterization and the entire visual impact.
But Barfi came out in 2012 and it has been 5 long years for Ranbir since then. After Barfi, Kapoor enjoyed immense popularity and critical acclaim for his roles and then with commercial hit like Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (2013) and Tamasha (2015) he brought in the big bucks.
These movies though were far and few though, and what caught the attention of the audience and critics were the ones that did not do so well but were hyped up due to Kapoor’s name like Roy, Bombay Velvet, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and more.
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In the past couple of weeks, a few acquaintances of mine have wondered as to why Ranbir Kapoor has stopped doing good films. Well, we shall take a look for ourselves as to why that is so:
Ranbir Kapoor Has Not Stopped Doing Good Films
The very line that Kapoor has stopped doing good films is not true. Kapoor has picked interesting and unique projects, even if they might not all have been ultra successful.
Take Bombay Velvet, for example, the story, in theory, seems interesting and has a genre that has not really been explored in Bollywood. The 1960s era, plus the gangster theme are all new and fresh to Bollywood.
Another would be Roy, whose story initially even I was interested in since it seemed to have themes of not just romance, but a bit of psychological thriller in it too. It also seemed to give Ranbir a chance to show his serious side for once.
So it is not as if Kapoor is not picking the right projects, but keep in mind that there is a world of difference between how a story sounds and reads on paper and how it eventually comes out on screen.
Is Talented But Is Not Challenging Himself Enough
To be honest, the only movies where I felt that Ranbir showed his acting prowess was in Barfi, Rockstar, and Rajneeti.
Instead of falling back on tried and tested formula that was Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Tamasha and such, the above-mentioned movies had Ranbir showing different angles to his acting.
In the past few years though, it seems as if Kapoor has fallen in a rut with mostly commercial movies.
It should be taken into consideration that these days independent cinema and out of the box movies are not as rare as they were earlier. Films like Lipstick Under My Burkha, Parched, Trapped, and more are films that are extremely well received and allow an actor to focus on their acting instead of on the budget.
Kapoor should try looking in these areas if he truly wants to do something different.
Ranbir Might Have Been Typecasted
Another reason why he hasn’t really surprised anyone in a while could be the fact that he has gotten typecasted.
Working with the same directors on multiple projects, like Imtiaz Ali and Anurag Basu who create similar kind of films each time could have pushed Kapoor into a hole he cannot get out of.
Imtiaz Ali, brilliant director no doubt, but he mostly makes almost the same kind of films usually a coming of age one, with just a few details changed.
On the other hand, it also feels as if Kapoor has forgotten that while films and Bollywood might not age, he, on the other hand, does age as does the audience.
And for him to keep doing these roles of a young 20 something finding themself is no longer as exciting as it used to be. Even in Jagga Jasoos, Kapoor plays a teenage detective, which is not really something Ranbir looks like anymore.
Image Credits: Google Images
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