‘Deepika deserves all accolades’

Actor Ranveer Singh says he was moved by his alleged girlfriend Deepika Padukone’s performance in her latest Bollywood hit, Piku

Actor Ranveer Singh may be recovering from a shoulder injury, but there is rarely a dull moment in his life. As he is widely appreciated for his role in his recent release, we speak to the ebullient actor about his alleged girlfriend Deepika Padukone, the recent controversy around his ad and his take on women-centric films. I haven’t watched Tanu Weds Manu Returns yet, but I am dying to watch it. As for Deepika, I feel Piku is her career’s best film so far. And she has been doing some great work for the past two-three years. She has been delivering great performances one after the other. With Piku, she has shone brightly in the midst of stalwarts like Mr Bachchan and Irrfan. I was moved by her performance. It’s not about gender. It has just so happened the such films have happened to be women-centric. On a broader level, they are substantial stories, which have endearing characters. More than anything else, I would say that instead of womencentric films, it is the time for content-driven cinema. I wanted to put a disclaimer, saying that during the shooting of this ad, kisi bhi jaanwar ko ‘peeta’ nahi gaya hai (no animal was harmed during the shooting of this ad). But that was not added for some reason. Some time ago, Ritesh (Sidhwani; producer) had asked me, “When will you work with our company?” I had told him, “The day Farhan or Zoya have a lead role for me, I won’t even ask for a script.”