Ranveer Singh: My aim is to do films that have longevity

Agencies
May 6, 2018

New Delhi, May 6: Bringing versatility with every film has been Ranveer Singh’s aim from the beginning as the actor believes in always surprising the audience with his work. For the 32-year-old actor, it is essential to be a versatile performer and growing up, he has aspired to have a “chameleon-like quality”.

“You watch one film of an actor and then the other one and you can’t believe it is the same person… I used to find that very fascinating. Actors who have that chameleon-like quality, they are able to be anything. I have always aspired to be like that,” Ranveer said.

This outlook somehow reflects in the choice of films the actor makes. Within a year, in 2013, Ranveer played a doe-eyed conman in Lootera and did a complete switch as a larger-than-life passionate lover in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Goliyon ki Raasleela: Ram-Leela. Two years later, the actor was seen playing a rich happy-go-lucky brat in Dil Dhadakne Do and embraced the armour of a fearless Maratha warrior in Bajirao Mastani.

His roles in upcoming films are as stark as they come – he has turned rapper for Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy and a cop in the Rohit Shetty-directed Simmba.

“For me, it is important to keep switching it off drastically for myself and for my audience. I want audience to expect the unexpected. As an audience, it is very exciting to have this thought that what will this performer do next.  That is something I aspire to have for myself. It is a constant endeavour to be a versatile performer,” he said.

This year, Ranveer’s box office report card boasts of the blockbuster Padmaavatand the actor says, both good content and commercial success matter to him.

The actor says he is glad that he is considered a “good actor”, who is a part of some “memorable films”. “There is a sense of responsibility that comes with it (success), that is without having an inflated or delusional sense of self-importance. Being in the position that I am in, it comes with a certain level of responsibility, what kind of cinema I am choosing to be part of. My endeavour is to do films that have the best of both the worlds…”

Ranveer says his aim is to do films that have “longevity”.

“I am not here to do films that come and go and score just big numbers but have absolutely no lasting memory. So the attempt is to do films that can grow and develop the film industry, that can do well for the commerce side of things and yet be world-class.”

The actor believes the future of Hindi cinema is in good hands as the younger generation are finding interesting stories to tell. Ranveer feels blessed to be working with some of the finest filmmakers like Bhansali, Zoya, Rohit and Kabir Khan. “… A lot of it is something that I have earned, like the distinction of being a three-time Bhansali (films’) leading man, two-time leading hero in Zoya’s films and to be collaborating with Rohit and Kabir for the first time.”

At a time when language is not a barrier and cinema is travelling across the globe, Ranveer hopes to be a part of a wave that takes Indian content globally.

“I want material that has global appeal to be produced in India. I think we have the potential to do it. I have been interacting with new-age filmmakers who have a different vision,” he added.

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Agencies
July 25,2020

Mumbai, Jul 25: Movie theatres have been shuttered for months due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, but the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has now recommended that the Union Home Ministry allow cinema halls to reopen in August. 

I&B Secretary Amit Khare indicated this at a close-door industry interaction with the CII Media Committee on Friday. He said Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla at the Home Ministry would take the final call.

Khare said that he has recommended that cinema halls may be allowed to reopen all over India as early as August 1, or at the latest, around August 31.

The formula suggested is that alternate seats in the first row and then the next row be kept vacant, and proceeding in this fashion throughout.

Khare said that his ministry's recommendation takes into consideration the two metre social distancing norm, but tweaks it gently to two yards instead. The Home Ministry, however, still has to revert on the recommendation.

Cinema owners, present in the interaction, however, pushed back and said this formula is unwise and merely running films at 25% auditorium capacity is worse than keeping the cinemas shut.

The attendees at the meet included media CEOs like N.P. Singh of Sony, Sam Balsara (Madison), Megha Tata, (Discovery), Gaurav Gandhi (Amazon Prime), Manish Maheshwari (Twitter), S. Sivakumar (Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd), and K Madhavan, Star & Disney, and also Chairman, CII Media Committee.

The OTT platforms present, including Gandhi of Amazon Prime, did not push back. Some Bollywood producers, notably those of Amitabh Bachchan's Gulabo Sitabo, have posted their movies on OTT, rather than live out the lockdown uncertainty.

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Agencies
June 17,2020

Mumbai, Jun 17: A lawyer on Wednesday moved a criminal complaint against 8 persons, including Bollywood superstar Salman Khan and producer-director Karan Johar, in a local court regarding the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The court had fixed July 3 as the next date of hearing.

In his complaint filed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha alleged that these eight persons forced Sushant to commit suicide under a conspiracy which, he pleaded, amounted to murder.

Others named in the complaint are Aditya Chopra, Sajid Nadiadwala, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhushan Kumar, Ekta Kapoor, and director Dinesh.

The complainant claimed that these persons did not let Sushant's movies get released under a conspiracy and the late actor was not even invited to film functions because of these people.

Ojha said that Sushant Singh Rajput's death had not only hurt the people of Bihar but the entire country.

He said the complaint had been filed under Sections 306, 109, 504 and 506 and Bollywood actor Kangana Ranawat had been listed as a witness in the case.

Sushant Singh Rajput had allegedly committed suicide at his Bandra flat in Mumbai on Sunday.

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News Network
June 16,2020

Mumbai, Jun 16: Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee remembers Sushant Singh Rajput as a dance loving 'chhokra' from an engineering college who, having made it in Bollywood, was “enthused, sincere and totally focused” on his craft.

Banerjeee said the actor always had “a book or two” with him and took pride in the fact that he had an “inner intellectual life away from the shallower aspects of showbiz”.

Rajput was found dead in his Bandra apartment on Sunday at the age of 34, leaving his friends, colleagues and collaborators in a state of shock.

The Patna-born actor and the director worked together in 2015 film "Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!" when Rajput was a relative newcomer in the industry. Banerjee says it was Rajput's vulnerability and willingness to do different that made him stand out for the role.

In an interview with news agency, the filmmaker looks back at Rajput's sincerity, his love for science and astronomy and how an outsider has to work harder than a "mediocre, unmotivated and entitled establishment elite" to succeed in Bollywood.

Excerpts:

You worked with Sushant when he was less than two-year-old in the film industry. What struck you the most in him to cast as Detective Byomkesh Bakshy?

Banerjee: His vulnerability and intensity and the ambition to do different things than the usual Bollywood stuff.

What were your memories of Sushant- the actor and the person?

Banerjee: As an actor he would tense himself up for the scene and then completely plunge in take after take. He would put a lot of value on preparation. He would be up the previous night of the shoot, reading the scene and making notes and land up on the sets all raring to go.

He would be on, ready and give his hundred per cent throughout the shoot of Byomkesh - no matter how hard or long the day. The unit did not really have to worry about him - considering he was the star. That's what I remember - a total pro, enthused, sincere and totally focused.

As a person, he seemed to me a happy dance loving 'chhokra' from an engineering college who had made it in showbiz and now was serious about acting. He was deeply nostalgic about his carefree student days in Delhi. We used to laugh a lot - I remember that quite clearly.

Sushant's friends say that he spoke more about books and his love for astronomy than films and their fate, which is rare for an actor in the industry. Do you also remember him that way?

Banerjee: Totally true. He was a science and astronomy nut. Always had a book or two with him - and was proud of the fact that he had an inner intellectual life away from the shallower aspects of showbiz. I recognized it as a reflex, protective action to prevent the Bollywood swamp sucking him in totally. And also an identity he wanted to protect and project.

Sushant's death has brought to the fore the struggles of outsiders and the alienation they often face from the nepotistic culture of the industry. Did you feel that Sushant was also fighting this battle despite being a successful actor?

Banerjee: We all fight it, day in and out - whether successful or failing. But the trick is to define that success and failure ourselves and not let the narrative constantly forced by the establishment to get to you. Those who know this weather the storm and ultimately survive and thrive.

The biggest unfairness in all this is that it takes double the talent, energy and hard work for an outsider to convince the audience and the industry that he or she is as safe a box office bet as a mediocre, unmotivated and entitled establishment elite.

The media colludes in this by wallowing in family, coterie and celebrity worship. This leads to deep anger and frustration. Those who can let this slide survive. Those who can't - those who hurt a little more or are vulnerable and impressionable - they are at risk.

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