Took my audience for granted in 'Besharam': Ranbir Kapoor

Actors rarely talk about their unsuccessful projects in public but Ranbir Kapoor is honest about his last release "Besharam" and how its failure gave him a reality check.

Directed by Abhinav Kashyap, the film saw Ranbir teaming up with his parents onscreen for the first time but the trio failed to save the film's fate at the box-office.

"In 'Besharam', I took my audience for granted. This is why I fell flat on my face. I thought I will sing some songs and make a few jokes and it will work, it did not. You need to learn and fall. I am glad that it did not do well because its success would have confused me," Ranbir told PTI in an interview here.

"Industry has this herd mentality. If a 'Dabangg' works, then there would be five other films on the same line. We forget that the first one did well because it was different. Good films will make money though the gamble is bigger with a big star," he said.

Ranbir is now coming to the big screen with Anurag Kashyap's period drama "Bombay Velvet" after a gap of almost two years. In between, he did a cameo in "Roy".

Slated to release on May 15, the film will see him playing a street boy who wants to become a 'Big Shot' at all costs in the city but unwittingly becomes a pawn in the hands of a scheming mentor, played by Karan Johar.

"Yes, there was a long phase but I am not to be blamed, I was working with directors like Anurag who really believe in their work and don't like to give a deadline to their films.

"'Bombay Velvet' was supposed to release in November but it got postponed. I felt bad initially because my last film had not done well and I wanted it to release soon. But their intention was to make it better and they stuck by their conviction," he said.

The movie, produced by Phantom and Fox Star Studios, is Anurag's most ambitious and expensive project with the director building a massive set in Sri lanka to recreate the Bombay of 1960s.

"Anurag was trying to make it for eight years but couldn't. like any film, it has a hero, a heroine and an antagonist but the backdrop against which this story is told is completely different. It is a role for any actor to die for because you rarely see this world in our cinema," Ranbir said.

What sets this film apart from the actor's other projects is the way he has been presented in the movie. Anurag has cast Ranbir against his image of the urban and cool hero.

"I have a very urban image and I think I have done so many coming-of-age stories that only 'Harry Potter' is left. I don't get offered roles like this. I had to call Anurag and ask for this part because I found it so engaging," he said.