It's scary playing Kishore da: Ranbir Kapoor

Kishore Kumar will take some more time to come alive on the big screen. Over a year ago, reports revealed that Ranbir Kapoor was offered to essay the role of the legendary actor-singer in his official biopic and he had in principle agreed to play the part.

Kishore Kumar will take some more time to come alive on the big screen. Over a year ago, reports revealed that Ranbir Kapoor was offered to essay the role of the legendary actor-singer in his official biopic. Ranbir, on his part, had in principle agreed to play the part.

The first draft of the script was written and narrated to Ranbir by writer-director Soumik Sen about a year ago. At that time, the required permissions from the singer’s family were pending. The industry was also abuzz with rumours that either Kangna Ranaut or Katrina Kaif would play Madhubala. But so far, there has been no news indicating any progress on the film.

"The script is still being worked on because it’s a scary film and character to get into. Imagine, if I don’t live up to Kishore da’s image? If I fail to entertain audiences the way he did or if I’m unable to create the same magic as he did every time he stepped behind the microphone or faced a camera, the film would be such a disappointment," explains a nervy Ranbir, adding that work on the coveted project is likely to begin by the end of 2012. To be directed by Anurag Basu and produced by UTV, the biopic will capture the artiste's life in a non-linear narrative.

"I’ve been extremely busy in the last one year with Rockstar and Barfee. But once I’m through with these projects, I’m going to start work on the script of the biopic because it’s very important to get the energy right. And God forbid, if I don’t succeed at that, then we’d rather drop the project rather than do something random," he reasons, adding, "There’s no way we can get this one wrong. There are too many Kishore da fans in the country, who’ll probably detest all of us for the rest of our lives for doing injustice to his movie."

Ranbir, who’s currently gearing up for the Fever concert in New Delhi on November 1 for his forthcoming release Rockstar, admits that although he has been exposed to a lot of international artistes’ work, Bollywood music has been his all-time favourite. "I’m always listening to Kishore da, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar… you name them. I’d advise anyone who’s aspiring to be an actor to listen to Kishore da, watch his movies or do both," he adds. "His mannerisms, variations in his voice and the magic he created was outstanding. He’s sung so many of my father’s (Rishi Kapoor) hits."

Coincidentally, the title of one of Ranbir’s next is also a popular Kishore Kumar number, Yeh Jawani, Hai Diwani… Back in 2008, Kishore da’s younger son had rendered the track Bachna Ae Haseeno… for Ranbir’s film of the same name. Is that going to be a possibility again? "I’d be happy if it happens because the song featured my uncle (Randhir Kapoor). There’s no discussion on that so far. But never say never!"