Ranbir Kapoor On Transforming Into Sanju: 'Would Call Sanjay Dutt In The Middle Of The Night'

New Delhi:

Ranbir Kapoor, who had previously described his experience of portraying the role of Sanjay Dutt onscreen as both "terrifying and exciting at the same time" in a Twitter chat, shared more from his Sanju diaries in an interview with mid-day. Ranbir said while assistance was readily available to help him prep for the role, it was his own prerogative to hit the right chords and pick up Mr Dutt's mannerisms for the film. But for him, no guidance was better than from the man himself and hence, he made several midnight calls to Sanjay Dutt when he was filming the biopic.

"It was my job as an actor to understand how this guy walks, how he talks. I would call Sanjay sir in the middle of the night, before the shoot, and ask him what he went through during a particular incident in his life. I would give my own interpretation to the script, but to hear it from the man himself is different," mid-day quoted Ranbir Kapoor as saying.

Ranbir categorically wanted to avoid doing what would be regarded as mimicry of Sanjay Dutt and this is what he told mid-day. "A lot of people copy Sanjay sir and his style. So, my job became even harder because I didn't want to look like a caricature." Ranbir even met comedian Sanket Bhosale, who is known for his brilliant comedy acts as Sanjay Dutt "but in that very meeting, I realised this is not the path I want to take," Ranbir told mid-day. For those who have't watched the movie yet, here's a glimpse of how well Ranbir has transformed into Sanju.

In an interview with PTI last year, Ranbir had stressed that the Rajkumar Hirani-directed biopic would portray Sanjay Dutt with all his human aspects and not aim to paint a larger-than-life picture of him: "He hasn't been a hypocrite about it (his life). So it's not a propaganda film trying to portray him as God or something. We are trying to show a very human side of Sanjay Dutt, his perils, his downfall, his will to fight, his time in jail, terrorism charges, his drug phase, how he handled his mother's death two days before the release of his debut film, his relationship with his father. These were human conflicts in his life."

The trailer of Sanju, which released earlier this month, indeed reveals that Sanjay Dutt has not shied away from sharing bold details about the controversial life he's led. Subsequently, the reviews of Sanju reveal that Ranbir Kapoor has done full justice to the role. Sanju hit screens on Friday and in his review for NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee says: "He dazzles us; he catches us unawares; and he sweeps us off our feet. In one word, he is luminous."

Sanju also stars Paresh Rawal (as Sunil Dutt), Manisha Koirala (as Nargis), Dia Mirza (as Maanyata), Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Jim Sarbh and Vicky Kaushal.