Always known to be rooted and authentic, Harshvardhan Rane is on a high after the sleeper success of his latest film Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat. Released on Diwali — and clashing with the horror-comedy biggie Thamma — Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat sprung a huge surprise on Day One itself, earning ₹9-crore. Made on a budget of ₹25-crore, the film, still running in theatres with a large number of shows per day, has already earned in excess of ₹60-crore, making it a sure-shot hit.

The success of the Milap Zaveri-directed film that focuses on obsession in love and stars Sonam Bajwa opposite Harshvardhan, comes just a few months after the 41-year-old actor scored a hit with the re-release of his 2016 love story Sanam Teri Kasam. A t2 chat with Harshvardhan.

Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat is a bona fide hit. Beyond the numbers, what makes the success of this film special to you?

For a very long time, I have been waiting for the audience to love my films, to accept my films. While they had done so to some extent in the past, 2025 has really been the year when the audience has given me two very special emotional moments, in which they put both my films — Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat and Sanam Teri Kasam, on its re-release run — on a pedestal built of love. I am overwhelmed by the fact that the theatre-going audiences bought tickets twice in one year to watch me and my films. That, in itself, is a milestone which I will always be grateful for. It makes me very emotional.

You have been promoting the film post its release by meeting audiences across the country in the way you know best — #thevanlife. Was travelling around in your van from city to city for Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat an organic move or was it planned?

Saying ‘thank you’ can never be planned. The journey of this film, post its release, has been special to me and when the audience gives you a reason to smile, you, as an actor, should take a moment to thank them. There should be no second thoughts about thanking and showing gratitude. That is what I am doing, and in the way that I know best — by taking my van out and meeting people face to face. There is no reference point for this, it doesn’t fall under common practices of film promotions, and hence there was no plan as such to do something like this... it happened organically.

I usually end up doing things which are not planned. Like I distributed pamphlets before the release of Dange (2024); like how I stood below my producer’s office and begged him to re-release Sanam Teri Kasam; like how, before the release of Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat, I put stickers on my van and requested people to buy tickets and not make me wait for nine years, like they did for Sanam Teri Kasam, for the re-release of this film.

So, after the film released and started doing well from the first day itself, I picked up my van, put some of my stuff in it and and decided to hit the road to try and thank each and every person in different cities of my lovely country, India. I hope to keep at it till either me or my van breaks down.

What is it about this film that made you feel that you wanted to be a part of it?

The first thing that I always look for in a film is the purity of emotion and the honesty of the character... when I find a certain kind of fire in a character, I gravitate towards it. On a lighter note, longing has always been my superpower and when I get to portray that on screen, it resonates with my being. I have longed for this career for an extremely long and testing time in my life and it is the kind of longing that my character (Vikramaditya) has that made me value that emotion more, and only added fuel to my fire.

What is the key to playing a controlling and contentious character like Vikramaditya and yet be able to prompt some sort of empathy from the viewer?

That is something that I will never reveal (smiles). That is a secret. I always express everything related to my work, but this is one thing which I don’t want to reveal. I keep it very close to my heart. This is something that I have experienced myself and I have developed certain schemas to express it. I have a little black diary for it (smiles).

With the spotlight firmly on you right now, how do you react to every comment made by you being scrutinised and often criticised under a microscope?

That is normal. When you speak up about or against something, there will be 90 per cent people who resonate with you, and there will be 10 per cent that will not have the same perspective. I never blame them. In fact, there is something beautiful about individual differences. That is what I have studied in psychology... that the beauty of human beings lies in our individual differences. And that is what makes this species called human beings very unique... we all perceive things differently from each other. No two men will like the same food, the same music, the same things.... We are all built differently, conditioned differently and exposed to the environment differently, with different biology, different cognition, different emotion, different motivation, different stimulus.... I believe in the power of individual differences, and it will be very foolish of me to expect everyone to see things in the same light and have the same perspective as I do.

A recent remark made by you that the audience that walked in to watch Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat and made it a success has helped in dispelling nepotism from Bollywood invited both praise and criticism. How do you react to that?

My only aim in using the word ‘nepotism’ is that I don’t want aspiring actors to be scared of this word. I also feel that the word ‘outsider’ is not understood properly. Seven out of our 10 superstars, for example, are not from Mumbai... they have come from outside and made it big. Being an outsider also means being welcomed from a different geography into a new geography. When I put this point forward, a few people don’t listen to the whole context. And news channels run one line to create clickbait.

When I say that seven out of 10 stars are first-generation actors, I am talking about Shah Rukh (Khan) sir, John Abraham sir, Akshay Kumar sir, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao, Nawazuddin Siddiqui sir, Vidyut Jammwal, Irrfan sir, Kartik Aryan... I am missing a lot of names but these come to mind immediately.

We have outsiders even in the generation now, especially the ones that have broken out this year... Like Bhuvan Bam, Rohit Saraf, Lakshya, Raghav Juyal... you can call them anything — outsider or a first-generation star. Those who want to understand what I am saying are thankfully getting the point, while others are just using it for clickbait. That is absolutely fine with me.

Many aspiring actors are scared of this fancy word called ‘nepotism’ in the same way we used to be scared of stories of ghosts in the jungle. I don’t want them to be scared. It makes me very uncomfortable to see people scared of coming into this industry. I want to tell them: ‘Guys, please come, try it out. Work very hard but it is not going to be easy, it will take time.’

You have seen my journey. I have taken more than nine years to re-release one film. It is not an easy path, but it is not impossible. My only intention is to remove the fear of nepotism from the hearts of aspiring actors. That is my whole mission of even indulging in this debate.

You have always been known for your authenticity and your ability to stay rooted. Is it tricky to hold on to that sometimes when you are so much in the limelight?

It is not tricky. I strongly believe in ‘incongruence’, a concept developed by Carl Rogers, that describes the discrepancy between a person’s perceived self and their ideal self, that is who they want to be. I keep a very small distance between these two things. I live a life where my real self and my ideal self are pretty, pretty close to each other... that is, however much I can manage because we live in a society and there has to be some decorum. Barring those moments, I live a life where there is no incongruence between my real self and ideal self.

What is the way forward for you?

Typical fancy star-boy behaviour like driving an expensive car, wearing branded clothes, buying expensive watches... this lifestyle is very claustrophobic and boring for me. For the last nine years, my focus has been on the honesty of my performance, the box-office collection of my producer, and a satisfied and smiling director. That is also the way forward.

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