I’m a product of nepotism, knew I’ll not succeed if don’t make a name for myself: Ranbir Kapoor

MUMBAI: Terming himself a ‘product of nepotism’, Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor on Thursday said he was always aware of the perks of being born into a film family, but lineage never guarantees success.

Ranbir, part of the fourth generation of the illustrious Kapoor family, said he had to develop an individualistic approach and prove his talent independently to sustain in the industry.I’m a product of nepotism and I got it very easy in my life but I always had to work hard because I realised that I come from a family like this, and if I don’t have an individualistic approach and if I don’t make a name for myself, I’ll not succeed in the film industry.

“You guys celebrate a lot of the success of my family but there are a lot of failures also, and as much as you learn from the success, you learn from the failure also,” the 43-year-old actor said.There used to be a lot of arguments, but not of the domestic kind. They would debate over a scene or the correct lyrics of a song,” he said.

Ranbir, known for movies such as Wake Up Sid, Rockstar, Barfi, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani and Animal, said he learnt pretty early in his life that filmmaking is a team effort.

“Filmmaking is not dictatorship, it’s a marriage of so many people and artists coming together, and believing in something, and believing in inspiring people,” the actor said, recalling the words of his great-grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor.He recounted his experiences of working as an assistant director on filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2005 movie Black.

Ranbir said he understood how an actor approaches a scene, when he saw the performances of senior stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji.

“When I saw him (Bhansali) write scenes and how the actors perform, I was noticing, studying them. I was not trying to ape them but I would tell myself, How would I approach the scene?’. But once you become a working professional you start acting in movies, every film is different and there’s no fixed method.

Ranbir, son of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor, was speaking at a session titled ‘Tribute to legendary filmmaker Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt’, during the ‘Celebrate Cinema