In calmer waters

The extended controversies and complications that surrounded the release of Padmaavat ensured that media interactions with the principal players and the director were avoided before its release. Prudence dictated that the media be kept away for obvious reasons. After the release of the film, however, Ranveer Singh was faced with a deluge of demands for interactions, being the man who stole the show completely in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-magnum opus. And he gradually met everyone who was keen to meet him, with my turn coming late one night.

But meeting Ranveer Singh is like reuniting with an old crony: his sheer happiness, warmth, honesty and frankness are almost palpable. Being a method actor who goes to extremes, he is now in the mode of his next film Gully Boy, and has lost all the muscle he had put on for his role as Allauddin Khilji.

But that has clearly not sapped his natural effervescence. He rises and gives me a high-five when I mention candidly that his performance was "5-star" and the film "4-star". "I must have done something right," he says with a wide grin. "Dil khush hua (You made me happy)."

An energiser bunny

Full of beans as always when we interact, I ask from where he gets all his energy, and he laughs and says, "I think this energy is there right from childhood. In all my report cards, in the remarks section, my teachers always wrote comments like 'bubbly', 'vivacious', 'gregarious' or 'hyper-energetic'. I have always been excited about things since then. I have a great level of enthusiasm for whatever I do. From childhood, I wanted nothing other than becoming a Hindi film hero, and here I am. So, because I love what I do, the huge level of enthusiasm and energy continues."

Yes, he has moved off Khilji by now, but he says that he had the "time of his life," and that this is the best of his three experiences with film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "Let me put it this way. I enjoyed my character very much. The character allowed me to make some bold choices and the best part was that I was free to make them. When I played Ram in Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela  or Bajirao in Bajirao Mastani, there were limits that I could not cross for those characters, but as an antagonist, it was totally different. That's not to say the shooting process did not take anything out of me. It took the most any movie could."

He recalls the shoots, where delays were caused by what he calls "extenuating circumstances" like protests and damage to sets. "When my turn came, there was little time. We had 45 days in which we had to shoot intense scenes wearing heavy costumes. After about six to eight days, we would be given two or three days off to recuperate. So, there I was, screaming and banishing my wife one day, then doing a fight sequence with Shahid Kapoor, then dancing to a song."

Remembering specific traumatic occasions, he goes on, "We were shooting the climax in Mumbai's Film City in May, around noon. This sequence was planned in cooler months. Wearing four layers of leather costumes, I thought I would literally melt. I would feel giddy and collapse. They would revive me, I would throw up and then give the next shot. It was exhausting and my body felt achy and broken all over."

More memories come in. "I remember it was day 37 when I broke down at night and cried on the phone to my mom and told her, 'I will not be able to shoot anymore!' The film had started taking its toll. Then, there were also days in which my mind was completely sharp and raring to go, but my body would not follow suit. On the day I shot 'Khalibali' , the song, my legs felt like jelly. But once the cameras rolled, I was fine."

Being a method actor on a truly different level, how did he interpret such an evil man as Khilji? "I did not relate to Khilji at all," says the actor. "Now, I have done a lot of homework, played out the part, and generated the conviction that people were and can be like that. But at that time, I could not find any part of me that was so scheming, greedy, ambitious, manipulative and sinister. When I started out, I knew nothing about such people. But I wanted to play an antagonist at some point in my career, and if I could do it with Bhansali-sir, why not?"

And so, Ranveer studied tyrannical rulers, oppressive regimes, genocide, serial killings and even various creatures from the animal kingdom. "I isolated myself again from friends and family as that hampers the rewarding process in which there are no rules, and you are there just with the material. I am finding, exploring, writing furiously sometimes, cutting and pasting things on the wall, painting and writing on it, looking in the mirror, walking within a room or just talking to myself. I am reading, watching, thinking what will work and what will not. With all this, I arrive at just the base, and the rest is done with the director on sets, improvising things."

Did the fact that he had no scene at all with Deepika Padukone help in some way to be the nasty individual Khilji was? "I don't think so," he replies. "It was a unique experience and it feels like we have not done a film together. So, it only makes me look forward to our next."

What were his expectations from the film? "I have zero expectations from every film. Now that sounds as if I am saying something smart, but it is true. I had dislocated my right shoulder before shooting even a single sword-fighting scene in Bajirao Mastani and my spirit was broken. I was lying in one place, on the borderline of depression. I heard many audiobooks, and one book said, 'The process is the prize'. That lit something inside me."

For the love of cinema

He goes on, "If the film had not worked, I do not know where I would have been, but I realised that my preparations and interacting with the director and the co-stars and adding nuances and layers were the actual prizes. Now, I am a great subscriber to the philosophy of Karm kar, phal ki iccha mat kar (Do your duty, do not seek rewards)."

Since there is a huge sense of relief after the film's success, Ranveer is not bogged down by expectations. "This is because every story, character and director is unique, and each film teaches you something about yourself, a new skill set or a craft. You learn and develop with each film, and I am now excited about my second film with Zoya Akhtar, Gully Boy. Zoya has a very internal process, where she wants her audience to reach into her world."

Then there is the "one and only" (his quote) Rohit Shetty's Simmba, which is home territory for him. "That film is the kind of movie I grew up on and was dying to do, and I know that together we will be dynamite. Then, my greatest challenge is embodying Kapil Dev. It comes in Kabir Khan's 1983, the underdog story that not many know about. I am an entertainer and want my films to be about big-screen entertainment."