Ranbir Kapoor: ‘I have never felt that I’m better or worse than anybody’

Mumbai, March 23  Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor has seen more highs than lows in his career which spans over 15 years. However, the actor believes that his failures have always taught him more than his success and that he’s running his own race.

Ranbir made his acting debut in 2007 with ‘Saawariya’. He was then seen in hits such as ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, ‘Wake Up Sid!’, ‘Rockstar’, ‘Barfi!’, ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, ‘Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva’ and ‘Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar’.

Asked about when did he feel he’s a star, Ranbir told IANS: “My first film itself was a very big disaster, the disaster-ness was celebrated but somewhere as an actor and artiste I had a deep conviction that flops and hits won’t matter to me. That gave me confidence.”

“I have never felt competitive towards anybody. I have never felt that I am better or worse than anybody. I feel like I am running my own race. I feel like I have very strong views on how and what I want to do in my life, the kind of films I want to do.”

“The kind of characters I want to portray and of course I am going to see a lot of failures.”

Ranbir believes that “failures have always taught me more than my successes.”

“Whenever your films work, I promise you the only feeling you get is ‘phew!’ till the next one. But when you have failure, you understand, you introspect and come to perspective.”

He added: “I have had a very blessed 15 year career and I have a lot of self confidence in myself that I am the best ofcourse I don’t like to put that energy out and say it but I tell myself I am the best because that keeps me going.”

Before making it big as a Bollywood star, Ranbir worked behind the camera as an assistant director for filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the 2005 film ‘Black’ starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Does behind the camera experience gives more edge to an actor?

Ranbir said: “More than being in a film school, I learnt from being on a film set. When I assisted Mr Bhansali in ‘Black’ that one year period that taught me so much about movies. I was seeing actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji perform. I was seeing Mr Bhansali direct a movie.”

That experience really “grounded” Ranbir.

He added: “I come from a little bit of a sheltered film family so going out – and Mr Bhansali is a hard task master, if you make a mistake he will reprimand you in front of everybody – I think that kind of training was important for someone like me. So, it prepared me for any failure in the world.”