Shamshera: ‘Wore pagg in Rocket Singh to make my mom and Nani happy,’ says Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Kapoor is gearing up for his first of the two massive releases this year, Shamshera. The film marks his return to the big screens after a gap of four years (the most recent being Sanju in 2018) and there is tremendous hype and expectation surrounding the Karan Malhotra directorial for this reason alone. Kapoor, along with co-star Vani Kapoor and other team members, is touring the country to promote Shamshera and in the garb of this, he has been reflecting on his personal life, the pandemic, and his journey so far as an actor.

While in Chandigarh during the ongoing promotional tour, Ranbir Kapoor recounted the days of playing the role of Sardar in the 2009 film Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year. The Shimit Amin directorial saw him don the holy ‘pagg’ or the turban for the first and the only in his career (so far) and the actor couldn’t help but reminisce about the endearing nature of that stint. “It is one of my favorite characters,” said Ranbir in the recent press conference and added that the ‘great experience’ of working on Rocket Singh also turned out to be pleasing to both his mother and actress Neetu Kapoor and Nani.

“I would send pictures to them from the sets (of Rocket Singh) every day because my mom and nani very happy that I wore a pagg in the film. I was also able to spend two days at the Golden Temple in Amritsar wearing the pagg – just a great feeling and experience for me,” he added.

Incidentally, Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year was produced by Aditya Chopra of Yashraj Films, Ranbir Kapoor’s second collaboration with the production giant following Bachna Ae Haseeno in 2008. Written by Jaideep Sahni and directed by Shimit Amin (the Chak De India! Combination), Ranbir’s portrayal of a naïve yet determined young Sardar Harpreet Singh Bedi fetched him maiden Filmfare Award for Best Actor in the Critics category.

Coming back to Shamshera, the film has Ranbir Kapoor play a dual role for the very first time in his career and he is joined by Vaani Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt to form the central cast. Karan Malhotra of Agneepath and Brothers fame directs the picture which releases in theatres on July 22.