A new script and a plan to move behind the camera
Ranbir Kapoor has begun writing a script for his first film as a director and hopes to start shooting within two to three years, after completing acting commitments including Brahmastra 2, Animal Park and Ramayana: Part Two. He wants to direct other actors rather than take the lead himself.
Contents
- A new script and a plan to move behind the camera
- What he meant by his last decade as an actor
- Writing has changed his view of filmmaking
- The family drama he hopes to make
- Why he wants someone else in front of the camera
- The films he wants to finish first
- From two ideas to a script
- His experience behind the camera began before acting
- Key Points
Kapoor outlined the plan in a joint video interview with Sai Pallavi, his co-star in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana: Part One. He said he began the script a couple of months ago and was discovering how difficult it is to build a story from scratch.
The conversation also brought a clarification about his acting career. After describing the current period as possibly his last decade as an actor, Kapoor explained that he meant the years in which he could play the kinds of demanding lead roles he now takes on.
His ambition is to make a family drama that leaves audiences with warmth and hope. No title, cast, producer or firm filming date has been announced, and Kapoor is still working out the shape of the film.
What he meant by his last decade as an actor
Kapoor's comment about his acting future surprised Pallavi, who asked him to explain. The actor had been discussing his growing list of commitments and whether he would continue to have opportunities to play parts such as Rama.
Kapoor, who plays Rama opposite Pallavi's Sita in Ramayana, clarified the remark:
What I mean is where I can get to play these parts,
His stated plan is a gradual move toward directing while finishing several major acting projects. He spoke about wanting to spend more time shaping films, rather than setting a date to leave acting.
Writing has changed his view of filmmaking
Kapoor said the practical work of writing had given him greater respect for the people who create stories. His comments place the project at an early stage, with the screenplay still being developed.
The actor described the challenge in direct terms:
I just started writing a script a couple of months back, and it's so hard to create. I have so much respect for writers and creators.
A screenplay gives a film its scenes, dialogue and sequence of events. For Kapoor, writing means moving from interpreting a character created by someone else to deciding what happens, why it happens and how an audience will experience it.
Directing attracts him because the job continues across the whole film. He contrasted that responsibility with acting, where a performer may finish a scene and wait for the next shot while the director keeps working through decisions about the story and its presentation.
Kapoor described bringing people together around one story as a particularly rewarding creative experience. His interest is in taking responsibility for that shared effort, from the initial idea through its execution.
The family drama he hopes to make
Life Is Beautiful, It's a Wonderful Life and Rajkumar Hirani's films were Kapoor's examples when asked about the cinema he would like to create. He said he could not yet define a precise genre, but his preferred emotional direction was more settled.
Kapoor explained his taste by naming those films and the kind of experience he wants audiences to have:
I can't define the genre but I'll tell you all my favourite films... and I hope it comes in that bracket like Life is Beautiful, It's a Wonderful Life, Rajkumar Hirani movies. I would say like a feel-good family drama.
Family relationships, everyday experiences and stories about life are the subjects drawing him toward direction. The connection between his examples is the warmth and optimism he hopes viewers will carry away.
That gives his developing project an emotional aim while leaving room for the story to change during writing. He has described the feeling he wants to create more fully than the plot or characters that might deliver it.
Why he wants someone else in front of the camera
Kapoor has made one clear choice about his first directing assignment: he does not intend to act in it. Separating the two jobs would let him concentrate on directing rather than also preparing and performing a lead role.
The actor stated that preference plainly:
I don't want to direct myself for sure.
His reasoning follows the attraction he described elsewhere in the interview. He wants to think about the entire film and the work of the people making it, rather than divide his attention between that responsibility and his own performance.
Kapoor also said he generally works around 100 to 125 days a year, leaving time to write. That range represents roughly 27% to 34% of a calendar year, although his comments also describe a current schedule more crowded with commitments than his earlier pattern.
He recalled usually having one film released before starting work on another. Several sequels now sit alongside a new collaboration with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, making the order of those projects central to his directing timetable.
The films he wants to finish first
Brahmastra 2, Animal 2 and Ramayana: Part Two were the three films Kapoor named when explaining what he wants to complete before his directorial debut. The Animal sequel is also known as Animal Park and is associated with director Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Ayan Mukerji's Brahmastra 2 is another of his planned projects.
Kapoor also has Bhansali's Love & War, alongside Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal. The period drama is scheduled for theatrical release on January 21, 2027. Bhansali Productions announced the date in an Instagram post. Ramayana: Part Two is planned for 2028.
His target concerns the start of filming, rather than a cinema release for his directorial debut. Kapoor used the industry expression "get on floors", meaning to begin shooting, and qualified the two to three year window as something he hopes to achieve.
Ramayana: Part One opened on November 5, 2026, with Kapoor as Rama, Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana and Ravi Dubey as Lakshman. Its first day collections reached Rs 64.85 crore net in India, according to figures attributed to box office tracker Sacnilk. That placed his latest discussion of directing alongside the opening of a major acting project.
From two ideas to a script
Kapoor had already spoken publicly about directing before the latest interview. During an Instagram Live session on September 28, 2025, he said he had started a writers' room and was developing two ideas. A writers' room is a group working together to explore and develop stories.
At that session, Kapoor described directing as a personal priority:
I am dying to direct a movie. I have actually started a writers' room recently. I am trying to inspire myself with the two ideas I have.
The main dates show how his ambition sits alongside his acting schedule:
- September 28, 2025: Kapoor said he had assembled a writers' room and was working on two ideas.
- November 5, 2026: Ramayana: Part One opened in cinemas.
- November 2026: His latest interview described a script begun a couple of months earlier and a goal of filming his debut within two to three years.
- January 21, 2027: Love & War is scheduled to reach cinemas.
- 2028: Ramayana: Part Two is planned for release.
The earlier development work and the more recent writing effort show that directing has remained on his agenda across successive acting commitments. He has not identified which of the two ideas discussed in 2025, if either, became the script he is now writing.
His experience behind the camera began before acting
Kapoor's first directing project would build on experience gained before his acting debut in Saawariya in 2007. He assisted his father, Rishi Kapoor, during the making of Aa Ab Laut Chalen, released in 1999, and later worked as an assistant director on Bhansali's Black.
Rishi Kapoor directed Aa Ab Laut Chalen with a cast including Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai and Rajesh Khanna. Ranbir was around 15 or 16 during its making, giving him an early view of the work involved in putting a film together.
His grandfather Raj Kapoor also combined acting and directing, with films including Awara and Shree 420. Ranbir's present ambition follows that family history, but the immediate task is his own: finish a screenplay, complete his acting commitments and turn an intended family drama into a film ready to shoot.
Key Points
- Ranbir Kapoor has started writing a script and hopes to begin directing his first film within two to three years.
- He wants to complete Brahmastra 2, Animal Park and Ramayana: Part Two before starting the shoot.
- He is drawn to a family drama that leaves audiences with warmth and hope.
- Kapoor does not want to act in his directorial debut.
- He clarified that his last decade comment concerned the kinds of lead roles he currently plays.
- Love & War is scheduled for January 21, 2027, while Ramayana: Part Two is planned for 2028.
