'Shamshera': 5 interesting facts about Ranbir Kapoor starrer
Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor's period film Shamshera hit the big screens on Friday amidst huge expectations. Also starring Vaani Kapoor as the leading lady and Sanjay Dutt as the main antagonist, the period drama has been directed by Karan Malhotra. As fans are witnessing the visual spectacle on the big screens, read on to know five interesting facts about the project.
During one of the promotional events, Kapoor said that the film was a challenge to him, as it stressed him both physically and mentally. "It was a very hard role and there were many days when I [thought] 'I can't do this.' Apart from the physical stress, the[re was] mental stress of playing this part," Kapoor said during an event.
Kapoor plays dual roles in the film: Balli and his father Shamshera. However, he was initially offered to play only one role. "When the film was narrated to me, I wasn't offered the double role." After hearing the story, Kapoor said that he asked producer Aditya Chopra and Malhotra to let him play both roles, after which everything fell in place.
Malhotra said during a press meet that it was his wife Ekta Malhotra who came up with the title. He said, "It was my wife who suggested the title of the film. So that was the inception of this film." He added that Yash Raj Films and Chopra came up with the core idea of the film, after which he penned the script.
Shamshera is a fictional story based on true events. Talking about it, Kapoor said during a press meet, "Shamshera is about wonderful heroism. It's a film set in the 1800s about a dacoit tribe battling for their rights and independence from the British." "It's a departure from the films I've previously made," he said, adding that "Shamshera is a work of aspiration."
For the film, the makers constructed a massive fort at Film City, Goregaon. About two months went into the preparation of the sets and nearly 300 workers were hired to build the sets. The film was launched in 2018 and the filmmaking process was finished in September 2020. But its release got postponed multiple times owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
