Ranbir Kapoor feels Shamshera is a role ‘people won’t easily accept’ him in: 'They have seen me in a certain image'

Ranbir Kapoor has said that he feels the audience will not easily accept him in a different genre and role like Shamshera as they are used to seeing him ‘in a certain image’.

Ranbir Kapoor will be soon seen on screen for the first time in almost four years. And it will be in a drastically different avatar. Ranbir’s upcoming film Shamshera is a masala action entertainer where he plays a dacoit in the 1800s. Needless to say, it’s much different from any role the actor has done. Many pundits and celebs have also remarked that Ranbir is breaking from his usual mould of the boy next door in Shamshera. But the actor admits that the audience may not accept the change easily.

Ranbir Kapoor in a still from Shamshera.

In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, Ranbir addressed why he chose such a different role and film. “At first, as an actor, when you hear a film’s story, you very instinctively decide if you want to be part of the story if it excites you, if you think it’s going to excite a large number of audience and then work follows,” he said.

Further talking about Shamshera, he admitted that he expected the audience to have some opposition to his changed image. He said, "But when a film like Shamshera comes, it comes with a lot of responsibility and you have to make it look believable. Like you said, since people have seen me in a certain image for so long, this is probably a genre that people won’t necessarily easily accept me in, but, I think it’s the job to put in the hard work, so as to make the audience experiencing the film, forget what the actor’s past work is, and they should believe the characters and the story that they’re watching at that current moment.”

Shamshera, directed by Karan Malhotra, also stars Sanjay Dutt and Vaani Kapoor. The film is set in the 19th century in the fictitious city of Kaza in India. The film narrates the story of a warrior tribe, which is imprisoned, enslaved, and tortured by a ruthless authoritarian general Shudh Singh (Sanjay Dutt). It will release theatrically on July 22.