"When Raju sir [Hirani] told me about this film, my first instinct was that I won't be able to do this. I felt I didn't have the courage and the acting chops to pull off this role. This is not just an acting gig for me. I took up this film as an opportunity to be part of a story of someone whom I consider my icon," said Ranbir Kapoor of the project that will arguably go on to become one of the landmark films of his career.

Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

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Although he knew Dutt socially, Kapoor said the script brought to the fore the different facets of the star that he was otherwise unaware about. "As a family friend, I have always known a different Sanjay Dutt. As his fan, I knew him as a style icon, knew his mannerisms and his swag. But when I read the script, it shocked me. From his drug [abuse] to his terrorism controversy, from his equation with his father [Sunil Dutt] to how the passing away of his mother [Nargis Dutt] affected him, everything shocked me."

The biopic, which also stars Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Paresh Rawal and Manisha Koirala in prominent roles, sees Kapoor sport six different looks as he traces Dutt's journey from a 22-year-old debutant in Rocky (1981) to his release from jail in 2016. Talking about the physical transformation that he had to undergo for different portions of the movie, Kapoor said, "The shooting of the film was spaced out, so we had enough time to prepare. After every segment, I almost had a month to prepare for the next avatar. So, in that sense, it wasn't difficult at all."

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