MUMBAI: He winked, he made a journalist dance, he shook hips with Sonakshi Sinha, and stole the limelight from her, all this, while calling himself chivalrous. Ranveer Singh managed to steal all attention from his ‘Lootera’ co-star at a promotional event for a book launch.
Ranveer Singh sure ended up charming the audience members with his insane energy and histrionics. Sonakshi Sinha was left, but, a mute spectator (almost) as Ranveer talked about his time on ‘Lootera’.
Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha shared a very playful chemistry. Could it be the chemistry leftover from the film? The actress feels Ranveer Singh isn’t so chivalrous in real life. “That chivalry was just for the photo-op,” she said. She doesn’t mince words either.
Ranveer Singh, on the other hand, who plays Varun in ‘Lootera’ said that he had always been a chivalrous person – holding doors open for the woman to pass before him, pull chairs for them to sit. But looks like he didn’t always practise what he preached because he proclaimed his chivalry by taking the microphone away from Sonakshi Sinha. But this was all in good humour.
The actor then went on to talk about how ‘Lootera’ was a romantic fantasy – the kind that doesn’t exist in real life anymore and how one would want romance to be. That was setting a high standard indeed. He also felt that it was appropriate for a romantic film like ‘Lootera’ to release in the monsoons – a season he finds romantic.
‘Sawaar Loon’ was the song for the day, and the lilting tune absolutely fits the fifties’ era look that the film is going for. Sonakshi Sinha admitted that the tune, composed by Amit Trivedi, was a tribute for the Burmans. Ranveer Singh even compared RD Burman to Pink Floyd, calling the former an innovator – someone whose music was timeless.
The actor brought a journalist onto the floor when the latter mentioned that he was into classical dance. Ranveer Singh coaxed the journalist to dance to ‘Sawaar Loon’ and it looked like this would be the only choreography we would see set to the song, as Sonakshi Sinha revealed that there would be dance sequence set to the song in the film.
From the art, the discussion then shifted to the commerce. Coincidentally, the big hits of 2013 have been romance films like ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, ‘Raanjhanaa’, etc. Ranveer Singh hoped that this would prove a good luck charm for ‘Lootera’. In fact when Sonakshi Sinha was asked about the Rs 100 crore prospect of this film, Ranveer Singh even came up with a jingle for Sonakshi Sinha. He produced his best bass voice for the radio jingle “Sonakshi Sinha. Hundred Crore Princess. (singing) Dhadang Dhang Dhang Dhang.”
Ranveer Singh also seemed like a person who did not believe in competition from his contemporaries. “I am an actor, so I believe what I’m doing is art and art is subjective and can’t be quantified. So if something can’t be quantified, there can’t be any competition,” he reasoned.
At the same time, he denied his involvement in the Hindi remake of the Telugu hit ‘Magadheera’. He also denied not knowing whether Madhuri Dixit-Nene, who recently danced to ‘Ghagra’ in ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, had any cameo in a song for his forthcoming film ‘Ram Leela’.
But he also denied any plans for settling down in life. “Ladki ho toh bata dena. The girl should be able to control me,” Ranveer Singh laughed and said.
Finally, Ranveer Singh spoke about the devastation in Uttarakhand and said that although he did not know whether the entire industry was providing relief to people there, he did know few people, individually, who were providing support. He sympathised with the people of Uttarakhand and, in the only dark moment at the promotional event, said that he felt danger was looming ahead.
“Life is fragile, and the world may soon come to an end. Love whole-heartedly,” Ranveer Singh stated.
With that, Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha began signing copies of the book while still obliging the media for photographs. Although Sonakshi Sinha was greatly reduced to a by-stander, it never looked like she felt left out. In fact, it seemed that her ‘Pakhi’ was a nice counterfoil to his ‘Varun’. Now to wait for 5 July, 2013, to see whether this chemistry is reflected in the film too.
Vikramaditya Motwane has directed ‘Lootera’ and stars Adil Hussain alongside Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha.
(Photos by Solaris Images)
