Your moustache is gone,” I exclaim when I meet Ranveer Singh late one evening earlier this week. “I can’t tell you how difficult I am finding it to cope with life without my mooche. I feel naked, exposed and vulnerable. There’s a void in my life. I don’t like that my nose is suddenly looking bigger and there’s nothing to distract you from this nose. I am f**ked!” he rants.
I have to say that without the by-now-famous (and clearly much-missed) stache, Ranveer, who is dressed in all black, looks more New York than 18th century Maratha. But then, Ranveer has established his credentials as a chameleon quite a few times since we first saw him almost five years ago in Band Baaja Baaraat. This summer in Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do, Ranveer effortlessly slipped into the shoes of Kabir Mehra, a south Delhi slacker whose only interest in life is flying planes. And he ends the year with a deluge of accolades for playing Peshwa Bajirao, a warrior torn between the love of two women.
As Ranveer paces up and down, sits on the table, does lunges and eats Nutella straight from the jar in a conference room at Yash Raj Films Studio in Mumbai, he tells t2 why “beyond my wildest imagination”
is more than just a phrase for him.
What a year it’s been for you!
Phenomenal! DDD and then Bajirao Mastani… such different characters. It’s given me an opportunity to showcase how versatile I am as an actor. I hope to be able to sustain this through my career. I want filmmakers to believe that I can fit into any mould they can imagine. The audiences are constantly on their toes. No one should be able to guess what I do next.
I am a lover of cinema and actors… I think actors are fascinating beings. The actors who I revere are those who have that ability to transform their entire being for a character. Like my hero is Daniel Day-Lewis. When I watch his films, I can’t believe that it’s actually him. I try to bring that in my work. I got the opportunity to do this earlier in 2013 where I was this inhibited lover in Lootera. He has all these walls around him and he is soft-spoken, intense and vulnerable. A few months later, I was the lewd and OTT peacock Ram Rajadi (in Ram-Leela).
It’s been a fantastic year. I have got so much love and appreciation for DDD. Deepika’s (Padukone) tweet where she said ‘you can do this also’ after she saw DDD was pretty much the universal reaction. With Bajirao, I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of a role. And, this time, I was the solo hero. The kind of response that’s come for the film has been staggering.
What’s been that one special compliment?
(Long pause) It’s hard to choose. I have been getting heaps of praise from some of the biggest filmmakers and my seniors in the industry. But I would have to choose Mr Bhansali. After seeing the final cut of the film, he said: “I can’t imagine Bajirao without you.”
Considering so many different names came up for Bhansali’s Bajirao, were you apprehensive when it came to you?
Not at all. I knew I wasn’t his first choice to play Bajirao. Whenever a film is offered to me, I don’t devote even an iota of thought to its baggage. I don’t let its history have any bearing on my decision. In my limited experience, all that becomes completely irrelevant once a film releases.
Considering Deepika and you know each other so well, does she still surprise you as a co-actor?
Yeah, every day. (Long pause) She surprised me with the amount of honesty she has. The level she has reached with her acting is amazing. She knows that she doesn’t have to do much to convey much. It’s a very advanced level of performance. With every part, she is baring her soul more and more. Her eyes are the windows to her soul... and the windows are so big (laughs). I am really happy for her.
You’ve done two films together and in both you’ve played star-crossed lovers.
Ya. Errrm, it’s Mr Bhansali’s thang. It would be interesting to do a different kind of film with Deepika.
Which would be?
(Long pause) I hope for more consuming characters like Bajirao.
No. You said it would be interesting to do a different kind of film with Deepika. So, what kind of film would you want to do with her?
I only talk about me. (Laughs) Like I was saying, I want to do a film that consumed me like Bajirao. I was really in the zone when I did this film. My life for one year was eat, sleep Bajirao... on a loop. I want a film that demands that much out of me.
Five years ago when Band Baaja Baaraat released, could you dream of the present stage in your career?
Never. (Laughs) Never Ever. Everything that’s happening around me is beyond my wildest imagination. Beyond my wiiiiiilllldest imagination. It all started on the Monday after the release of BBB. I was sitting upstairs. I opened my inbox and the first five messages were from some of the biggest directors in the industry. I thought: “F**k, on Friday I was a nobody,” and I would have given an arm and a leg for a five-minute meeting with any one of them. I used to think ‘wildest imagination’ was just a phrase but now I really know what it means. All this shit is unreal!
What I have realised in the last five years is that the only thing which matters is how I perform on a film set. Everything else is just the frills. You can’t get carried away by praise, fame and money because it is all very transient. I enjoy the process of making a film more than what happens after it is released. Everything else is a bonus.
What is 2016 looking like?
2016 is looking hawt! It’s just what the doctor ordered… a light romance! I was thinking what will excite me after Bajirao and then comes along a chance to be directed by Aditya Chopra, my mentor and one of the best directors in the business, in Befikre. It’s a big deal for me that he has only worked with Shah Rukh Khan so far, and now it’s me. It is a light romance. We are going to shoot in Paris and it’s going to be amazing.
Karishma Upadhyay
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