Ranveer Singh: I want audience to expect the unexpected from me

Ranveer Singh

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 told PTI.

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 says. This year, Ranveer's box office report card boasts of the blockbuster "Padmaavat" and 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 adds. Ranveer was talking on the sidelines of lifestyle brand Carrera's global campaign #DRIVEYOURSTORY.

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