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

Ranveer Singh tells JYOTHI VENKATESH that he quit an internship at both JWT and ONM as a copywriter and took an acting course at Indiana University in Bloomington for two years and came back to Mumbai in 2003 to assist Shaad Ali in ads.

Today happens to be Ranveer Singh’s 35^th birthday. To celebrate his birthday, we reproduce the first ever interview of RANVEER SINGH by JYOTHI VENKATESH taken on the eve of the release of the film Band Baaja Baaraat, a film under the banner of Yashraj Films, with which he had made his debut ten years ago. The innocent and friendly Ranveer has changed now with his success and is not the same guy who had excitedly gave me his number and promised me that he would call me to his house in Bandra to have chilled beer, if only I took time to accept his invitation. After Band Baaja Baraat clicked like nobody’s business, Ranveer became inaccessible and also changed his telephone number exactly like Sushant Singh Rajput had done, to avoid intrusion by the media guys.

Ranveer is agog with excitement, when I meet 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 nepotism prevailing and 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 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 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.

Why do you like to do ads? I ask. “The keeda of being a copywriter is still there within me. I feel that an ad too, like a film is an actor’s equity. If the basic message that an ad sets out to give to the audiences is not wrong, I’d like to get involved with ads too in a big way. I have a problem with messaging. It should not be a discriminating message”.

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 Yashraj. “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 inBand 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”, says Ranveer. “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 inBand Baaja Baaraat is”, he continues.

“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. 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 Singh

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 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)

Ranvir 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 to confess 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 college, confesses that he had grown 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. Ranveer reiterates that he has been signed for a three films contract with Yashjraj Films and BandBaaja 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”.