CELEBRITY STATUS ENTAILS A LOT OF RESPONSIBILITY: RANVEER

Says Ranveer Singh about his celeb status, adding such a life brings with it a lot of responsibility

Bollywood heartthrob Ranveer Singh loves all the attention. He admits being in spotlight is like living his dream. The actor, who is fondly called the Hindi film industry’s livewire, thanks to his infectious energy and smile, says being a celebrity comes with some responsibilities — which he is happy to embrace — but doesn’t let any of it take away his focus from his first love, acting.

It comes with the territory

“Celebrity life is not easy. There is a lot of scrutiny. This is compounded with the coming of mobile phones and smart phones which have a camera. There is constant attention, sometimes too much of it,” Ranveer said. “But this is something you take in your stride. If you decided to be an actor, then with that kind of territory comes a lot of attention and I am only too happy to receive attention,” he added.

The actor, who made his debut in 2010 with the film Band Baaja Baaraat

as a raw Delhi boy, says he was “an attention seeking kid while growing up”. “So, for me this is like living the dream. People aspire to be in the limelight, so if you have been blessed with an opportunity to be there, then you should look at it as a positive. I don’t feel any kind of pressure in any aspect of my life,” said the actor, who lent his voice to Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool in the Hindi version of Hollywood film Deadpool 2.

Handling responsibilities

With celebrity status comes a certain responsibility — and Ranveer is learning to handle that. “There are many things which you can do as a person who is not famous that you cannot do when you are a public figure. I have started understanding that slowly. But in the midst of all of this attention and noise sometimes, you cannot lose the focus of what is the most important (thing) — which is the core of what you do — which is acting in films,” he says.

The actor feels “being famous, being a celebrity, being in limelight and being a public figure” are all by-products of his profession. “I always make it a point to not lose focus of what I am really here to do — which is to act in films. That time between ‘action’ and ‘cut’ is what I live for.”

No pressure

The 32-year-old asserted he does not work with any load of pressure. “Pressure is only pressure if you take it as pressure. I think pressure stifles you. It will restrict you. I take each day as it comes, each gig as it comes and try and do my best at everything... It is just a habit, or has become a habit to try and give my best,” he said.

“Expectation is only a good thing. I must be doing something right for people to have such expectations,” added the actor when asked about being under pressure to maintain his success rate.

Trying new things

Ranveer is always looking to try out new things, and that is what prompted his decision to be part of the

Deadpool universe. “This is not something I have attempted before. But that was the large part of the attraction. The fact that I was keen to do something new in the creative space (was also one of the reasons). This is something that presented itself out of nowhere and I really jumped at it because I saw Deadpool and I really enjoyed it,” Ranveer said, adding that he is happy to be the face of irreverent humour. Ranveer has films like Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy, Rohit Shetty’s Simmba and Kabir Khan’s ’83 in his kitty.