Today is Ranbir Kapoor's birthday. We know now everyone would feel extremely obliged to pull him down because he is the son of Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, grandson of Raj Kapoor and great-grandson of Prithviraj Kapoor. In short, he belongs to a family that has been credited for making Bollywood a huge name abroad, especially Raj Kapoor in Russia. It's true that Ranbir has leverage over everyone else in terms of getting access to film sets and getting a dream debut. Nobody is denying that. Many would kill to have an opportunity like that. But dismissing him as just another nepo kid will be a gross mistake because Ranbir is a very talented actor. Ranbir Kapoor’s Debut OTT Venture To Be an Assassin Series?

We know many who have made it their mission to weed out nepotism from Bollywood (if that's at all possible) would find this article really misleading but let us make our point here first. Let us tell you a few things about Ranbir which will prove that this Kapoor guy is not just a star kid but also a good actor.

Acting as an education

Many believe these actors are dropouts with hardly any degree and apparently, that makes them qualified to call these star kids out. Well, acting needs just one qualification - one needs to know how to act. Ranbir does. But we will also tell you this that this Kapoor has actually studied it as a vocation. After finishing his pre-university education here, he moved to NYC and joined the  School of Visual Arts followed by  Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute stint in method acting. So he did study what he is doing. He didn't just wake up one day and started acting just because he is a Kapoor.

Assisting the great Bhansali

We know a lot of these star kids claim to have assisted one or the other big director before they were cast in movies. Ranbir did too. He assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Black along with Sonam Kapoor. He had once said, "I was getting beaten up, abused, doing everything from cleaning the floor to fixing the lights from 7 am to 4 am, but I was learning every day." He wanted to explain how one learns more on the sets than in an acting class.

Movies and more

If you look at Ranbir's movies, they are quite varied and add a new dimension to his skills. A hero going deaf and mute in a movie is unheard of. His own father Rishi Kapoor didn't want him to do a film like Barfi! On Simi Garewal's show, Kapoor Sr had said, "Barfi! mein kya hai sala goonga hai, behra hai..kya actor hai.. (What's there in a film like Barfi!?) honest to God, before Barfi! released people would say tere bete ko kya hogaya hai (what has happened to your son?) He is going the Amol Palekar way. He should be a star. There should be heroics of him." So it's clear Ranbir was meant to have a star image but the actor broke that stereotype and did movies that spoke to him. Today, it's not just him even his fans are proud of his choices. Riddhima Kapoor Birthday: Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor Dance Together in a Cute Surprise Video; Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karisma Kapoor Attend the Bash (View Pics)

The same goes for Raajneeti. The latter was his sixth film and he had already turned grey on screen. The role of a cool and calm mastermind changed any perception anyone had of him being just another lover boy. He has been breaking those myths ever since. Many consider Tamasha as one of Imtiaz Ali's best movies. Ranbir as Ved was so many of us. To separate yourself from what you are doing to understand what you want to do has been beautifully shown in the film by the actor.

That doesn't mean Ranbir can't do movies that play to the gallery. His character in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is deeply flawed and yet Bunny is someone people relate to because we all are flawed. Ranbir makes it so easy to fall for his characters even if they are wrong in every sense of the term.

So the moral of the story is in a bid to slam the actors with legacies, don't dismiss the ones who actually have talent. Ranbir Kapoor is one such Kapoor who is perhaps the best actor in the entire Khandaan. Yes, I have said it!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 28, 2020 12:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).