Playing Bajirao was a huge gamble: Ranveer Singh

Ranveer Singh is just five-year-old in the film industry and yet, he took a leap of faith by playing a historical character on screen, but the actor says he always knew his decision to work on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Bajirao Mastani" would pay off.

In the film, Ranveer, 30, plays Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao.

"At a critical stage of my career, giving more than one year to a project, not doing anything else, shaving my head... The time this project took, in that much time you can do three films. It's a big gamble... It's a risk but somewhere I knew the pay off would be worth it," Ranveer told PTI.

"When I decided to do it, a lot of well-wishers, advisers asked me if I was sure about doing the film. And now that the trailer is out they see it, they understand why I did it," he said.

The "Gunday" actor said he always wanted to play a warrior and a gangster on screen. And now that he is playing Peshwa Bajirao, he is living his dream.

"I always wanted to do a character of a 'yodha'. I also want to play a gangster. But in my eighth film I got chance to play a maha-yodha, it is a moment of joy," he said.

"My name is Ranveer and it means yodha, warrior. I think I was born to play this part. I like the genre of historical drama so I was waiting to do a film like this. I was excited about it," he added.

For the actor, every day was a challenge while being on the sets of "Bajirao Mastani".
"At the narration level, you understand it's a challenge as there are war sequences, emotional drama, the canvas is huge, and all this is going to be difficult and that it would require lot of hard work.

"There is no simple day. In Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film everything is grand, huge... like getting ready used to take two and a half hours," he added.

The actor thinks there is no formula to success.

"Nobody has a formula to know what is going to be a success or what is not going to be a success. You should trust your creative instincts. I was very excited about this film as it's a powerful story," he said.

Recently, the film got embroiled in a controversy with the descendants of Bajirao Peshwa alleging that historical facts have been "altered" while portraying the late king and his wives Kashibai and Mastani in the film.

And also that the Pinga dance form is an integral part of Marathi culture and has been reduced to an 'item song'.

The "Dil Dhadakne Do" star refrained from commenting on it.

"I think the producers, the director would be right to answer this. As an actor my responsibility is limited, to portray the character to the best of ability on screen," he said.

"And being the face of the project, we all have worked hard, to go out, reach out to audience and invite them to come and watch our labour of love. I think director and producer should be posed the question about the controversy."

The film, also starring Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, opens in theatres on December 18.