Ranbir Kapoor sets 2-3 year timeline for directorial debut

Ranbir Kapoor is giving himself a deadline. In a new interview with BBC Asian Network, the actor said he hopes to step behind the camera for his directorial debut within the next two to three years. More surprisingly, he has already started writing the script.

It is a candid pivot for one of Hindi cinema’s most reliable leading men, and it reframes the next few releases as the bridge to a different kind of career.

The acting slate comes first

Before he calls action, Kapoor has a full calendar. He told the BBC he wants to finish Brahmastra 2, Animal 2 and Ramayana Part 2, then "get on floors with my directorial debut within two or three years, I hope." That order matters: the actor is not walking away from franchise commitments; he is using them to buy time to learn the craft.

He was also unambiguous about one thing. He does not want to direct himself. For a star who could easily make a vanity project, the plan sounds more disciplined than self-indulgent.

Writing before the spotlight

Kapoor said he began working on his script a few months ago and admitted the process has been harder than expected. The difficulty has given him a new respect for creators. In his words, an actor’s high can feel superficial, while a director gets a particular creative satisfaction from bringing a team together to tell a story.

He even suggested that, after a musician, a director may feel the most complete creative high in filmmaking. There is a practical detail fans may overlook: Kapoor says he acts for roughly 100 to 125 days a year. That leaves substantial stretches between promo cycles and shoots for building a screenplay—and, eventually, a film set.

The kind of film he wants to make

Early clues point away from the dark, alpha-male terrain of Animal and toward something warmer. Kapoor named Life is Beautiful, It’s a Wonderful Life and the films of Rajkumar Hirani as inspirations. He is interested in a family drama that leaves audiences with a warm, feel-good experience.

Here is what we know so far:

• Debut targeted within two to three years, only after the current acting slate
• Scriptwriting has already begun, a few months in
• The project is likely to be a warm family drama, not a self-directed star vehicle
• Acting commitments first: Brahmastra 2, Animal 2, Ramayana Part 2

Why this matters for filmi fans

The line that will travel fastest is Kapoor calling this his "last decade as an actor." It is less a retirement announcement than a creative third act. He is at a point where the roles he wants are finite, and direction offers a longer runway to shape stories rather than be slotted into them.

He was recently seen as Lord Rama in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, which released on November 5, 2026. That film also introduced Sunny Deol as Lord Hanuman in a post-credits Hanuman Chalisa music video. With that epic scale behind him, Kapoor now seems ready to build something smaller and more personal.

For an audience raised on his charm, the real payoff may be a film that feels like a Rajkumar Hirani family hug with Ranbir Kapoor’s name in the director’s chair.

Source: India Today