36^th BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW OF RANVEER SINGH

I TRIED TO SCREW UP THE LIP TO LIP KISSING SCENE WITH ANUSHKA BECAUSE I DESPERATELY WANTED A RETAKE

RANVEER SINGH in conversation with JYOTHI VENKATESH

Today, Ranveer Singh is celebrating his 36^th birthday. We at cinematvtoday.com wish Ranveer Singh a happy birthday by reproducing this first interview of his taken by Jyothi Venkatesh, when he made his debut as a leading man with a Band Baaja Baaraat, a film under the banner of Yashraj Films and was agog with excitement, when I met him for this pow wow at Yashraj Studio where he has landed for the promotion of his film Band Baaja Baaraat.

“Considering the fact that I have absolutely no family background in the film industry, I thought that it was a farfetched idea to get into films, especially the way the film industry was functioning with only star sons getting a break. I am glad that the trends are changing now for the better and talent does get an opportunity.”

The chilled Bandra boy admits that he was inclined towards the performing arts even as a kid in spite of the fact that he has no connection to the industry. In fact, believe it or not, Ranveer says that he has had an internship at both JWT and ONM as a copywriter. Ranveer says that he quit his job and took an acting course at Indiana University in Bloomington for two years and came back to Mumbai in 2003 only to assist director Shaad Ali in ads.

Ranveer says that he has had his own share of struggle too for a long time, when he dabbled in theatre backstage. Side by side, Ranveer confesses that he also made it a point to go for auditions for various films as well as ads till one day a miracle happened and he got a call from a casting director for an audition for a film with Yash Raj. “I felt great because it was like a dream come true, though I was called
just for an audition and was overjoyed when I was selected to play the
leading man opposite Anushka in “Band Baaja Baaraat.”

Ranveer plays the role of Bittu Sharma in Band Baaja Baaraat. “Bittu is a Dilli da munda, who is a big jugaadu who takes each day as it comes. Bittu meets the wedding planner Anushka who is exactly opposite to him and latches on to her because he also wants to be a wedding planner. Bittu is completely Ranveer but Ranveer isn’t completely Bittu. I have put so much of myself in the character of Bittu. My father always tells me that I should also be street smart like Bittu, my character in Band Baaja Baaraat is.The brief that my director Manish gave me was that every wedding planner may be an event manager but every event manager is not necessarily a wedding planner. Says Ranveer, “I was never doubtful about whether Manish knew his job or not, because he had a clear vision of what exactly he wanted to tell at the very outset on the first day of shooting itself.”

Ranveer is practical to the core “I know that I am not the best looking guy in the world and hence worked a lot on my physique while working in the film, especially since I had to make up for my face or for that matter my lack of face. To get into the skin of my character, I had to hang out with boys in Delhi incognito. I learnt their lingo, the words that they use colloquially, and all incognito without letting anyone
know that I am an actor preparing for my role, because I was determined to get into the skin of my character and transform myself into Bitto”

Ranveer who says that he is grateful to Anushka that she did not make him feel that he did not know anything, admits that since Anushka is a very confident girl whose confidence is quite contagious, her confidence rubbed off on to him on the sets.

Ranveer, who confesses that he did fall in love with Anushka but did not have the guts to confess to her about his crush for her, also has a lip to lip kissing scene with Anushka in the film. Did he ask for a retake? I ask him gingerly. Ranveer says shyly, “Frankly I tried to screw up the scene with the hope that the director would ask me for retake after retake since I secretly enjoyed kissing Anushka but I realized that I am too good a kisser that the shot was okayed by Manish in one single take.” (Laughs)

Ranveer continues. “I feel that as an actor, my job was to be in the moment and feel what the character feels. “Anushka is very close to my own concept of the right girl. She has a great sense of humor, is intelligent and well read and very confident. What I like about her is that she is 100% independent. I have no qualms confessing that Anushka is a very special person as far as I am concerned.”

Ranveer, who was exposed to world cinema a lot even when he was in the college, confesses that he had grown up on a staple diet of films of Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar etc. “I was a healthy and robust child who used to watch a lot of TV too though I was also equally crazy about Hindi films too. However, all said and done, I do not think that I would be interested in acting in TV
serials, because after working in Band Baaja Baaraat, acting in films has become my passion.”

Though there is a lot of speculation that Band Baaja Baaraat has a lot of similarity to Wake Up Sid, Ranveer denies it and clarifies that Band Baaja Baaraat and Wake Up Sid are poles apart and as different as cheese is from chalk.

Signing off, Ranveer reiterates in this first ever interview of his that he has been signed for a three film contract with Yash Raj Films and Band Baaja Baaraat is the first of the lot. “ I have been allowed to sign for any outside film, like Anushka was allowed to sign Patiala House”.

I should say that though Ranveer has forgotten his promise to call me for a beer session at his house, the charming boy still retains his childlike innocence though in the last eleven years since I interviewed him for the first time, he has not only married Deepika Padukone but also his status has also catapulted to that of a super star. I still remember that when he had made his debut, people were whispering that it was allegedly only because his father had lent him ten crores of rupees that he managed to manipulate getting into the cast of his debut film Band Baja Baraat!