Ranveer Singh calls ‘Simmba’ his biggest film to date
This festive season is a special one for Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh, and not because it will be the first one he will spend as husband to frequent co-star Deepika Padukone.
The pair’s November wedding in Italy was one of the talking points of 2018, but they had to put honeymoon plans on hold, since Singh is gearing up for the release of his next film Simmba on December 28. Those first three days at the box office, the last three days of 2018, will deliver a verdict on what Singh calls the “biggest film” in his career, which spans eight years and includes many hits.
The claim that Simmba will be his career pinnacle is surprising, considering his turn earlier this year as Alauddin Khilji in period drama Padmaavat – which also starred Padukone
– is being widely raved about as one of the best performances of the year. “Simmba is my first film ‘in and as’ the title role, with the biggest director [Rohit Shetty], and it’s mounted on a very large scale. The film rests solely on my shoulders: with
Padmaavat, there are others with joint equity, so from a ‘business of films’ point-ofview, this is my biggest film.”
The movie’s team is actively promoting the film, and Singh concedes that he is struggling to be the bundle of energy he usually is, but promotion work comes first. “The past few weeks have been very hectic. I am not getting enough sleep these days. Rohit sir was kind enough during the shooting to give me time off [before the wedding]. I have been doing some good time management as well, and now, after the wedding, things have been really, really crazy. Hopefully by January, it will be all fine.”
Padukone is fully supportive of her husband. “I think Simmba has success written all over it,” she said at a screening of the film, held just for her, last week. “So, I think we are just focused on his film’s release and then, we will figure out honeymoon and birthday all after that.”
The couple’s work ethic is undoubted: Singh locked himself in a room for 21 days to prepare for the role of Khilji in Padmaavat, but he is quick to dismiss talk of him being associated with the method-actor club. “I think method acting is a very loosely thrown around term, and not many understand what it means. To me, method acting is one man’s theory towards acting, and acting is a free-form art, and free-flowing for anybody to approach in a way that suits them.
“For period films, it is important to go back in time and try and understand the character. For light films like Befikre and
Dil Dhadakne Do, it does not require much method acting.
“But, having said that, it is not that we did not require effort during Simmba. In fact, we had two weeks of dedicated prep where me, Sara [Ali Khan] and Rohit sir read the script – cover to cover, start to end, again and again. And after that, during the day, I would go home and study my own character. I chose to create a very distinctive character for myself. I had to work on the dynamic between characters and the spoken language, because there is an accent there and a peculiarity.”
A spin-off of Shetty’s own film, Singham, in Simmba, Singh plays a corrupt police officer who has a change of heart and straightens up. Shetty’s other film, Golmaal, spawned into a four-part franchise, and it’s likely that Simmba will go that route. No wonder Singh’s hopes are riding high.
The film features two songs, both remixes, which have caught the fancy of millions on YouTube. Tere Bin is a revamped version of a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan number, and
Aankh Maare panders to Shetty’s style of mixing music with funky dance moves. But are these remixes a sign of a lack creativity? “I would like there to be more original music, but music is a creative form which you cannot put envelope or time to … Aankh Maare is the number one song in the country, and people are dancing all over to it and are loving it.
“Personally, I prefer original content, but I also have nothing against remix culture. Ultimately, they are good songs and remixes have their own charm. People are getting joy out of it.”
Though Singh sounded offended, he is only mirroring producer Karan Johar who makes a cameo appearance in the song trailer to exclaim “one more remix” and yet, has gone ahead with it. And Singh is playing ball, too.