Cover story: Ranveer Singh on his rivals, Deepika Padukone and that condom ad
Hurtling through the most important phase of his life, Ranveer reveals how keeping up with the trappings of his own crowded mind has left him exhausted
I'm in a luxury trailer parked outside Studio Number 8 in Film City, Goregaon, undoing Ranveer Singh's buttons. Soon he will be feeding me chocolate and sea salt cookies, petting me like a dog and insisting on being interviewed while sitting unnaturally close, our noses millimetres apart.
It's all part of the games Ranveer Singh plays. He will invade your private space, cause you discomfort and look on with wonder.
But mostly Ranveer Singh gets off on attention. He may have learnt to share space with actors on screen, but in real life, he runs solo - and is always on. At GQ's big Best- Dressed bash last June, he showed up dressed as a character somewhere between the Mad Hatter and a turn-of-the- century circus ringmaster - rocking a top hat, handlebar moustache, silk pyjamas, satin bathrobe, Sylvester the Cat Looney Tunes slippers and a T-shirt that read "No f**ks to give". The media saw it as a delightful whim, but not everyone was quite as thrilled: scores of celebrities in their double-breasted designer suits looked on from the sidelines sipping cocktails with palpable unease.
"Some actors get weird around me, mostly guys from my generation. I think I make them insecure," he says.
"But 200 characters live inside my head. They just pop out.. it just happens," he says. "I oscillate between extremes."
His voice sounds different from what I've heard on screen. It's guttural, booming and feels discordant with his boyish grin. He developed this baritone for Bajirao Mastani in the 21 days before shooting, where he locked himself up in a room and conjured up in his head the person he was going to be for the next few months. Even though the film is long complete, he's chosen to keep the voice tonight.
His promotional shoot for the day concluded, we drive out of the meandering, parched lanes of Film City past numerous lots where Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar are also working, and head to the Westin hotel, where a suite in his name awaits us. Dressed in a Shantanu & Nikhil sherwani with golden buttons, golden shoes, a rat tail on an almost bald head, Ranveer Singh is a sight, not typically handsome but striking
Ranveer is big on creative control, even when it comes to brand endorsements, the kind of work most actors treat as easy money for little effort. Ranveer says he was the brainchild behind the "My name is Ranveer Ching" campaign as well as the infamous Durex commercial. "No mainstream celebrity has ever promoted a condom brand, and I decided I should. So I called up Durex and told them I wanted to work with them." Why Durex? Because it's a brand he says he used first when he was 12. Who has sex with a 12-year-old, I wonder. "A 14-year-old," he retorts with a grin. "Anyway, I wrote the ad myself." Now suddenly he's up gyrating his hips and singing, "Baarish ko girne do, khud ko mein rok hi na pata. Galliyon mein phirne do, haath mein leke khushiyon ka chaata."
His cellphone vibrates, interrupting his mojo. The name flashes: Deepika Padukone' - an odd way to feed in the name of your alleged girlfriend on your personal device. He speaks to her in a formal, polite tone, letting her know he's doing an interview and will call her back.
I brew myself some green tea and lie back to enjoy the rest of the show. Room service arrives with Ranveer's coffee, steaming hot with pieces of ice floating inside the pot "I don't have the patience to wait for it to cool," he says, then pours some into a tiny cup and gulps it down. There are seven more cups in the tray.
I ask him what he's like in a relationship.
"I fu*ked around a lot till I was 26... but I love being in a relationship. It's the best thing ever," he says, the contents of another cup flushing though his throat, moistening the tips of his gravity-defying moustache. "My whole thought process has changed. My priorities have changed. My mind " set, my outlook, my worldview " everything is changing. Motherfu*ker! I must be growing up."
Has the presence of a particular woman helped him get to this stage?
"Yeah," he says slowly, grinning slightly.
I'm in a luxury trailer parked outside Studio Number 8 in Film City, Goregaon, undoing Ranveer Singh's buttons. Soon he will be feeding me chocolate and sea salt cookies, petting me like a dog and insisting on being interviewed while sitting unnaturally close, our noses millimetres apart.
It's all part of the games Ranveer Singh plays. He will invade your private space, cause you discomfort and look on with wonder.
But mostly Ranveer Singh gets off on attention. He may have learnt to share space with actors on screen, but in real life, he runs solo - and is always on. At GQ's big Best- Dressed bash last June, he showed up dressed as a character somewhere between the Mad Hatter and a turn-of-the- century circus ringmaster - rocking a top hat, handlebar moustache, silk pyjamas, satin bathrobe, Sylvester the Cat Looney Tunes slippers and a T-shirt that read "No f**ks to give". The media saw it as a delightful whim, but not everyone was quite as thrilled: scores of celebrities in their double-breasted designer suits looked on from the sidelines sipping cocktails with palpable unease.
"Some actors get weird around me, mostly guys from my generation. I think I make them insecure," he says.
"But 200 characters live inside my head. They just pop out.. it just happens," he says. "I oscillate between extremes."
His voice sounds different from what I've heard on screen. It's guttural, booming and feels discordant with his boyish grin. He developed this baritone for Bajirao Mastani in the 21 days before shooting, where he locked himself up in a room and conjured up in his head the person he was going to be for the next few months. Even though the film is long complete, he's chosen to keep the voice tonight.
His promotional shoot for the day concluded, we drive out of the meandering, parched lanes of Film City past numerous lots where Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar are also working, and head to the Westin hotel, where a suite in his name awaits us. Dressed in a Shantanu & Nikhil sherwani with golden buttons, golden shoes, a rat tail on an almost bald head, Ranveer Singh is a sight, not typically handsome but striking
Ranveer is big on creative control, even when it comes to brand endorsements, the kind of work most actors treat as easy money for little effort. Ranveer says he was the brainchild behind the "My name is Ranveer Ching" campaign as well as the infamous Durex commercial. "No mainstream celebrity has ever promoted a condom brand, and I decided I should. So I called up Durex and told them I wanted to work with them." Why Durex? Because it's a brand he says he used first when he was 12. Who has sex with a 12-year-old, I wonder. "A 14-year-old," he retorts with a grin. "Anyway, I wrote the ad myself." Now suddenly he's up gyrating his hips and singing, "Baarish ko girne do, khud ko mein rok hi na pata. Galliyon mein phirne do, haath mein leke khushiyon ka chaata."
His cellphone vibrates, interrupting his mojo. The name flashes: Deepika Padukone' - an odd way to feed in the name of your alleged girlfriend on your personal device. He speaks to her in a formal, polite tone, letting her know he's doing an interview and will call her back.
I brew myself some green tea and lie back to enjoy the rest of the show. Room service arrives with Ranveer's coffee, steaming hot with pieces of ice floating inside the pot "I don't have the patience to wait for it to cool," he says, then pours some into a tiny cup and gulps it down. There are seven more cups in the tray.
I ask him what he's like in a relationship.
"I fu*ked around a lot till I was 26... but I love being in a relationship. It's the best thing ever," he says, the contents of another cup flushing though his throat, moistening the tips of his gravity-defying moustache. "My whole thought process has changed. My priorities have changed. My mind " set, my outlook, my worldview " everything is changing. Motherfu*ker! I must be growing up."
Has the presence of a particular woman helped him get to this stage?
"Yeah," he says slowly, grinning slightly.
Cricket
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
Seher Hone Ko Hai
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
3