‘Ranbir Kapoor said I delivered a massive flop, everyone is looking at me’: Anil Kapoor recalls advice to Ranbir on Animal set after Shamshera bombed

Actor Anil Kapoor recalls working with Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, and how he motivated the young actor after his film Shamshera crashed at the box office.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | October 8, 2025 03:59 PM IST

3 min read

Ranbir Kapoor and Anil Kapoor in a still from Animal.

Everyone has a lull phase in their career or some outliers in their stellar resume. Bollywood stars are no exception, and the biggest names, such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Ranbir Kapoor, have all had their fair share of shocks. For the latter, the film Shamshera was that outlier, and the film opened to poor reviews and even worse numbers at the box office. His Animal co-star, Anil Kapoor, recently talked about Ranbir’s psyche after the film and the advice he gave the young actor regarding flops.

While making an appearance at the FICCI Frames event, Anil was asked about the criticism actors and their films are often subjected to. He said, “There is always going to be noise. People are going to say things about you and write things about you. It’s very important to block that noise. It took me more than 45 years to learn this thing. Earlier it used to impact me as well, and I am sure that happens with the youngsters too. That is why I tell them, “Kuch nahi hai yaar. Kal tak sab bhul jaane wale hai. (This is nothing. Everyone will forget it by tomorrow.)”

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Continuing his answer, he gave the example of Ranbir and the way he came to work on the sets of Animal after Shamshera bombed. “I remember that when I was shooting on the sets of Animal. Ranbir came there, and his film Shamshera had just been released. He was very down, and he came and said, ‘Sab mujhe dekh rahe hai.’ Itni badhi flop di hai maine’. (Everyone is looking at me. I have delivered such a big flop.) I told him, ‘Ek acha shot dete hai, kal tak bhul jayega. (Let’s just give it a good shot. You’ll forget everything by tomorrow),’” said Anil.

He added, “We were doing a photoshoot, and I told him, ‘Don’t take it to heart, man.’ You’re just imagining that people are looking at you or thinking about your flop. Success and failure are not in your hand; once you have accepted what happened, once you are doing honest work, you forget about it all. That is what happened, and by the next day we were jamming and discussing things with the director.”

Shamshera became one of the lowest-rated films in Ranbir’s career, and its India net collection halted around Rs 40 crore. Directed by Karan Malhotra, the cast of the film included Ranbir, Sanjay Dutt, Vaani Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla and Ronit Roy.

On the other hand, Animal became his most successful film ever, earning Rs 553 crore domestically and grossing over 915 crore worldwide. Except for Anil and Ranbir, the cast of the film included Rashmika Mandanna, Tripti Dimrii, Bobby Deol, Shakti Kapoor, Siddhant Karnick, and Upendra Limaye.

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