Meet Ranveer Singh, the star in making , with floppy hair falling on his forehead, the casual college boy looks.
The debutant , who made inroads into Bollywood’s big banner Yashraj with his very first film — Band Baaja Baraat, has emerged winner with the box-office success and several awards already in his kitty. Bollywood’s top honchos Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar have predicted him as the next superstar!
However, his striking resemblance to rising star Ranbir Kapoor is purely incidental, he maintains. “It’s just our names that are similar. I’m an experimental actor and want to carve my own niche,” he says.
Ranveer had celluloid dreams from the time he finished high school. He says, “It all seemed so farfetched then. Given my non-filmi background, I felt like an outsider, who didn’t stand a chance. It was like wanting to belong to an elite, exclusive club.”
The next best thing was to take up copywriting, says Ranveer, who grew up on a steady diet of television. “As a kid, I was fat. When children were playing outside , I spent my time in front of the television , enjoying commercials and wondering how they were made. I was good at writing jingles and one-liners . I interned at O&M , but my love for cinema never died,” he reminisces.
His dream was fulfilled when the casting director at Yashraj finalised him after several screen tests. He rubbishes rumours that his businessman father funded his launch film. He asks, “It’s absurd . You think Yashraj needs my Dad’s money? I have no idea how that news spread. It takes away from the fact that I got the film on merit. I had heard that people in this industry are ready to bring one down, but I didn’t know it would happen so soon.”
However, things are looking up as he has been contracted for three more films with the production house. and he is in the final stages of talks with the top-most directors of Bollywood. Stardom, though, still eludes him and so do big-budget mahurats and a PR machinery that can prop up an actor in the initial years. “I don’t agree with larger-than-life launches and screaming headlines. If my acting gives me stardom, great, but I am not striving for it,” says the newcomer, who is happy with the current trend in the industry. “There’s a break from formula films and acceptance of an intelligent story, which is very encouraging for a new actor. Boys and girls from non-film backgrounds want to be part of these stories,” says Ranveer. Does he resent the advantages star kids have in the industry?
He reacts, “Of course, their parents’ connections make it easier to meet the right people. I had to hit the ground running . The best of star sons can have several comebacks.” “I too have an advantage,” he continues, “I’m like a blank slate, you can make what you want of me, there is no baggage. People don’t come with pre-conceived notions , thinking, ‘yeh uska beta hai, iske baap ne kiya tha, toh yeh aisa hoga?’ There are no comparisons.” For now, he is happy not being trapped inside an office. He says, “I don’t know if I’m here to stay but I would like to have a unique identity. I want to focus on acting and not glamour or the money. Acting is a crazy profession , it can get surreal and volatile... I’m having the most exciting time of my life...!”
Read the original story on timesofindia.indiatimes.com
