Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Raj Kapoor is an Indian actor who works in Hindi-language cinema and belongs to the fourth generation of the Kapoor film family, often described as Bollywood's first family.^[2] Born in Mumbai on 28 September 1982, he grew up surrounded by cinema, but he trained behind the camera first and only later stepped in front of it, making his acting debut in 2007.^[1] Nearly two decades on, he is regarded as one of the most recognisable leading men of his generation, and in April 2026 he was named to the TIME100 list of the world's most influential people, appearing as the only Indian actor on that year's list.^[3]

His reputation rests on a mix of romantic leads and demanding character roles. Rockstar, Barfi!, Sanju and Animal each earned him a Filmfare Best Actor award, part of a total of seven Filmfare trophies that also includes a Best Male Debut award for his first film.^[1] Commercially his path has been uneven: hits such as Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Sanju, Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva and Animal sit alongside a long stretch of films that struggled at the box office.^[1] Away from cinema he is a co-owner of the Indian Super League football club Mumbai City FC, and in 2024 he launched a lifestyle brand called ARKS.^[1]

In 2026 he is at the centre of the biggest release cycle of his career. He plays Lord Rama in Nitesh Tiwari's two-part epic Ramayana, with Part I scheduled for 6 November 2026, and he stars in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Love & War, scheduled for 21 January 2027.^[4][7] He turned 44 on 28 September 2026.^[1]

Ranbir Kapoor was born on 28 September 1982 in Bombay (now Mumbai) to the actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh.^[1] He is the great-grandson of Prithviraj Kapoor and the grandson of the actor-director Raj Kapoor, which placed him inside one of the most famous families in Indian film from the day he was born.^[2] His elder sister, Riddhima, is an interior and fashion designer, and the actresses Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor are his first cousins through his paternal uncle Randhir Kapoor.^[1] His father, Rishi Kapoor, died on 30 April 2020.^[1]

He was educated at the Bombay Scottish School in Mahim and has spoken publicly about how a tense atmosphere at home during his childhood left a lasting mark on him, and how that pent-up feeling later drew him towards films.^[1] After his tenth-standard examinations he worked as an assistant director on his father's film Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999), an experience that brought him closer to his father.^[1] He then completed his pre-university studies at H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai.^[1]

Kapoor moved to New York City to study filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts and later trained in method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.^[1] During film school he directed and acted in two short films, Passion to Love and India 1964.^[1] Although he later described the formal course as less useful than he had hoped, the years in New York, and the loneliness of living far from home, pushed him to commit to a career in Hindi cinema.^[1]

Back in Mumbai, he joined Sanjay Leela Bhansali's team as an assistant director on Black (2005), doing everything from basic set work to long shifts, and has said he saw the job as a way to earn an acting opportunity from Bhansali.^[1] That plan worked: Bhansali cast him as the male lead of Saawariya two years later, and the two are now reuniting almost two decades on for Love & War.^[7]

Kapoor's debut came in Bhansali's Saawariya (2007), in which he played a wandering singer who falls for a woman waiting for her lover. The film was a critical and commercial disappointment, but the performance won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.^[1] Yash Raj Films signed him next, and the romantic comedy Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) became his first commercial success.^[1] In 2009 he was seen in Wake Up Sid, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year, and the three films together earned him the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.^[1]

The political drama Raajneeti (2010) gave him his first complex role and was a big commercial success, but the real turning point was Rockstar (2011), directed by Imtiaz Ali. To play a small-town boy who becomes a global musician, he learned the guitar, worked in A.R. Rahman's studio and spent time with a family in Delhi to study their way of speaking; the result was a Filmfare Best Actor award.^[1] He followed it with Barfi! (2012), where he played a deaf and mute man in a performance often compared to silent-film comedy, and won a second consecutive Best Actor award. The film was also India's official entry for the Academy Awards.^[1] Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) then became one of the highest-grossing Indian films of its time and cemented his star status.^[1]

The years that followed were difficult. Besharam, Roy, Bombay Velvet, Tamasha and his own production Jagga Jasoos (2017), made under his company Picture Shuru Productions, all failed to find a big audience, with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) the main exception.^[1] Trade analysts argued that his taste for experimental projects was hurting his commercial pull.^[1] The recovery came with Sanju (2018), Rajkumar Hirani's biopic on Sanjay Dutt. It earned around Rs 5.79 billion worldwide, became his biggest hit up to that point and brought him another Filmfare Best Actor award.^[1]

After a four-year gap, he returned in 2022 with two releases. Shamshera was a box-office disaster, while Brahmastra: Part One - Shiva, a fantasy film directed by Ayan Mukerji that took about five years to make, became the highest-grossing Hindi film of that year.^[1] Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (2023) marked a return to romantic comedy, and then Animal (2023), directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, pushed him into darker territory. The film earned more than Rs 9 billion worldwide, became the biggest release of his career and won him a fourth Filmfare Best Actor award, although it also drew sharp criticism from commentators who accused it of glorifying toxic masculinity.^[1]

Recognition has followed on a global scale: in April 2026 he was included in the TIME100 list, with a tribute written by actor Ayushmann Khurrana.^[3] Overall he has won seven Filmfare Awards, along with several IIFA, Screen, Stardust and Zee Cine awards.^[1]

His upcoming slate is one of the largest in Hindi cinema. In Ramayana, a two-part adaptation of the epic directed by Nitesh Tiwari, he plays Rama alongside Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana and Sunny Deol as Hanuman; Part I is scheduled for 6 November 2026 and Part II for late 2027.^[4] Love & War, a romantic war drama with Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, has finished shooting, had its first-look poster released on 24 September 2026 and is scheduled for 21 January 2027, with its teaser reportedly planned to play with Ramayana in cinemas.^[7] Vanga has said that Animal Park, in which Kapoor will play two lookalike brothers, is expected to begin shooting around mid-2027, while Brahmastra 2 is reported to be his likely next project after Ramayana.^[1]

Kapoor has generally kept his private life away from the press, and he has said in interviews that he does not want it kept open to everyone.^[1] In his early career he was linked with Deepika Padukone, his co-star from Bachna Ae Haseeno, and later with Katrina Kaif; both relationships attracted heavy media attention, and he spoke about them only after they had ended.^[1]

In 2018 he began a relationship with the actress Alia Bhatt, his co-star in Brahmastra. The couple married on 14 April 2022 in a private ceremony at their home in Mumbai.^[1] Their daughter, Raha, was born on 6 November 2022, and the family first showed her face to the media at the Kapoor family's Christmas lunch in 2023.^[1] Kapoor and Bhatt are working together again in Love & War.^[7]

Football is one of his longest-running interests. In 2014 he acquired ownership rights in the Mumbai-based Indian Super League club Mumbai City FC together with the chartered accountant Bimal Parekh, and he is also vice-captain of the All Stars Football Club, a celebrity side that plays matches to raise money for charity.^[1] He has also taken part in the documentary series Girls with Goals, which raised awareness of the all-girls football team YUWA in Jharkhand.^[1]

He supports several charitable causes. These include the empowerment of women and girls through Shabana Azmi's Mijwan Welfare Society, the NDTV Marks for Sports campaign, and a 2018 collaboration with the Paani Foundation to help drought-hit villages in Maharashtra.^[1] He has also endorsed many brands over the years, including Pepsi, Panasonic, Renault and Lenovo.^[1]

Estimates of his wealth vary widely between publications. Some sources place his net worth at around US$45 million, a figure attributed to Forbes in 2023, while a birthday feature published in September 2026 puts it at over Rs 500 crore (about US$70 million), citing film fees of Rs 50 to 70 crore per project and endorsement income.^[6] Because such numbers are estimates rather than audited figures, readers should treat them as approximate.^[6]