Actors Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor got a whiff of mass hysteria when they recently visited a south Delhi mall. Unnati Joshi reports
Even as the crowd went berserk on spotting the young sensations in Yashraj Studio’s reloaded verison of romance, the lead actors were extremely comfortable in each other’s company and indulged in some witty repartee. “I couldn’t have asked for a better Dharam (the male lead), I couldn’t have asked for a better co-star. I had been saying for the longest time that I want to work with Ranveer. I like him as an actor and as an audience, I love watching his films,” Vaani exclaimed.
“I guess I am lucky that I got an opportunity to work with him in my second film. He’s a great person. It’s very difficult to match his energy. He just makes the entire room come alive. I hope one day I can get as energetic as him,” she added, throwing a pop-corn at Ranveer.
“Praise me a little more, I have trained you a lot,” Ranveer chimed in jokingly. “Vaani is a simple and loveable girl. Mark my words, her life will change after December 9,” Ranveer said, praising his co-star.
While Vaani chose caramel popcorns over promotions, most of the questions were directed at Ranveer and centred on the hectic kissing and striping in the trailer and the songs. “Adi sir did tell me well in advance that I was going to wear red chaddis and strut around; so I hit the gym and started dieting. It was a very unique experience. And that red chaddi later became a talking point,” he smirked.
Talking about her character, Vaani said, “I do feel mine and Shyra’s souls are somehow connected. One thing that Adi told me before he signed me up was, ‘the exterior is one thing but you need to catch the soul.’ I do feel I have given up my soul because she became my second nature. The lines are a blur now, I can’t even differentiate between Shyra and me at times but I feel she is a lot more cooler and daring than me. She speaks her mind and these are the things that I have learnt from Shyra. She has inspired me a lot.”
Asked if the movie is somewhere related to No Strings Attached, Ranveer answered, “The movie has got nothing to do with No Strings Attached. It is originally written material by Adi sir. This is certainly written from the heart and soul of the filmmaker. In Hindi cinema, rom-coms don’t usually stay rom-coms. What starts as a rom-com at some point becomes a love story. This is a true blue Hindi rom com. We believe that the Indian audience has evolved and it’s not necessary that they need the heavy dose of emotions in order to feel fulfilled by a film-watching experience. It is a light- hearted movie and I think that’s the freshness factor in the film.”
Demolishing myths of this being another yuppie project, Ranveer did some straight-talk. “Befikre has a universal appeal and people of all ages can watch and appreciate it. My advice is watch this film with someone. I usually watch films alone but this is the film that you should watch with someone. It is definitely a youthful film but as progressive and as modern a film it is, it has a very traditional heart and soul, just like Adi sir. I was giving an interview in Mumbai a day before and someone asked a question on why I was chosen. So I called Adi sir to confirm when did he indeed think about me for this part and he said, I have answered this in my note. You can see it tomorrow,” he added.
And then Ranveer pulled off the ultimate trick. He started reading Aditya Chopra’s note, which the filmmaker has been sharing on social media as a unique promotional device too to grab more eyeballs.
“Dharam (the character name of Ranveer in the film) is somebody I could be. But I was never carefree enough to be. Dharam is a man, who will always remain a boy. For Dharam, college never ended and the party never stopped. He’s so happy being himself and making everyone around him happy that it literally becomes his job for life. If this is the character then there cannot be any other actor but Ranveer Singh. Ranveer is Dharam, Dharam is Ranveer. Even before I knew that I am going to direct this film, I was writing it for Ranveer.
“He was actually the leading man for Befikre even before I was the director of Befikre. Now I have directed only one leading man all my life, Shah Rukh Khan, and any director, who has worked with Mr Shah Rukh Khan knows that he is very bad habit that you just cannot get over. He makes your job so easy that you actually can’t think working with anyone else ever. But before doing our other film together I had to do this one without him and I was really scared. I was scared because I truly believe that in all the films that we have done together, Shah Rukh is the reason I came out looking good. So, am I going to be exposed nowIJ It would have been unfair to put this pressure on Ranveer or on me to take this pressure on myself. So I just didn’t think of it and dived into this film, in this new adventure with a new leading man, but the strangest thing happened. The very first day I directed Ranveer he was Shah Rukh for me. The same energy, brilliance and intellect. I knew I was in safe hands. It’s not like Ranveer acts like Shah Rukh or his process is like him. It is just that the way Shah Rukh used to better my work and cover my flaws, Ranveer did the same for me.”
At the end of the note, Chopra added that he wouldn’t have made Befikre ‘if an actor like Ranveer Singh did not exist.’
Overwhelmed after reading it, the usually in-control Ranveer broke down. Or maybe it was an emotional sales pitch. “I am bit overwhelmed by this note because I have just read it. I need to live with it for a minute. Not many people know Aditya Chopra personally, he is a very private person but I think that he is the original and the biggest befikra of them all,” he said signing off.
Photo: Pankaj Kuma