Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘Shamshera’: ‘It Brings the Indian Hero Back,’ Says Director Karan Malhotra (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran “Agneepath” director Karan Malhotra’s epic “Shamshera” is gearing for a theatrical release in a post-pandemic moment when audiences are flocking back to cinemas.The film is set in the fictitious city of Kaza in the 1800s, where a warrior tribe is imprisoned, enslaved and tortured by ruthless authoritarian general Shudh Singh (Sanjay Dutt).

It tells the story of Shamshera (Ranbir Kapoor), an enslaved man who became a leader and then a legend by relentlessly fighting for his tribe’s freedom and dignity.

The film will be Kapoor’s first release since 2018 smash hit “Sanju.” “Shamshera” marks the first action oriented role for Kapoor, while Dutt is riding a wave of acclaim for his turn as the antagonist in “K.G.F: Chapter 2,” one of the biggest Indian hits of 2022, alongside “RRR.” Those two films were originally made in the Kannada and Telugu-languages respectively and also became huge hits in their Hindi-dubbed versions with audiences responding to their larger-than-life storytelling and heroism. “Shamshera” promises to be the first current generation Hindi-language film to capture the zeitgeist that “K.G.F: Chapter 2” and “RRR” celebrated. “I’m a huge fan of the big, magnificent yesteryear Hindi films.

I do feel somewhere we’ve lost the interest or the excitement of retelling stories of that world,” Malhotra told Variety. “Not only as a filmmaker, as an audience, I really miss that genre.